A tranquil Monday night in Esperanza Village was interrupted by the sound of a gunshots close to the curfew hour. Coming unto 8:00 pm, 34-year-old Gabino Garnett Jr was about to leave his girlfriend's house on Middle Bank Road when a gunman opened fire on him. As many as 11 shots were fired but Garnett still made it to the San Ignacio Hospital before he succumbed.
Garnett's family is now coming to terms with his death, and the fact that his infant son will grow up without a father. Courtney Menzies has his story:.
It started out as a normal Monday night for 34-year-old Gabino Garnett Jr: he was at his girlfriend's house in Esperanza Village, she made him dinner, and then they watched television while he played with his ten-month-old son.
But then Garnett decided to take his family to his home in Santa Elena for the night - and that decision turned out to be his last. Things went south shortly after, as his girlfriend, Kenia Montejo, explained to us.
Voice of: Kenia Montejo, Girlfriend of Deceased
"He said, let me go get the vehicle to bring it here because its drizzling so we can go. Gabino went, I went in for the baby's bag. When I went for the baby's bag, I heard a lot of noise. When I saw my cousin and my mom burst the window, I hear plain Gabino yelled, Kenia! By the time I ran out and jumped out through the backdoor, Gabino was already here holding his side. And I watched him and I told him, babe what happened? I was touching his clothes and pulling his shirt and I felt the warmness and my side was wet with blood. He said, they shot me, they shot me!"
As Montejo cried over Garnett, she saw the gunman running away. She shouted obscenities as he fled, and now blames him for disrupting the peaceful life that she lived with her boyfriend.
Kenia Montejo, Girlfriend of Deceased
"I watch my baby, like how the hell somebody could do this [bleep] and leave me without a baby pa."
Montejo described him as a family man, whose first priority was his baby boy, Zhidan. He had wanted a son, but sadly, was only able to be there for the first ten months of the infant's life.
Kenia Montejo, Girlfriend of Deceased
"My baby wah turn 1 March 6, me and Gabino sit down and plan our baby birthday party. That's what we do most of the time. He happy he had a son, this is his first son, he has a daughter, but this is the first son he has. And his daughter, Zara and Zhidan stick on, he give this baby the name Zhidan, that is all I keep with, the name the memories, and everything. They just take that away. I just want the person know they left me without a pa and how the… they expect me to explain that to my baby?"
And it's the memories left behind that she will cherish.
Reporter
"What's something special that you will remember about him?"
Kenia Montejo, Girlfriend of Deceased
"His smile, his fathering love, the jokes, always messing with me… Gabino was my everything. He gave me my first son, my one and only child. 25 years old and I had my baby by he, I never once see Gabino shed a tear till Zhidan was born."
Montejo explained that Garnett was shot as he was about to turn the key in the ignition of the car. But police say this is not the first time he was targeted. Their reports are that someone shot after him three weeks prior to this incident, but he managed to escape unharmed.
This time, he was not so lucky.
One person is currently detained, and police are looking for two other suspects.
Garnett was charged for the murder of a 19-year-old back in 2014. The incident happened in San Ignacio town.
