In less than a month, a second 14-year-old boy has been gunned down only minutes before curfew in the Stann Creek District. And while Laddie Gillett's killer was a policeman, the person who murdered Kwame Williams is still unknown. The teenager was walking to his grandfather's house before curfew caught him outside, when he was cornered by a man on a bicycle who pulled out a gun and fired several shots.
The murder of this young boy, whose family said he was too busy making others laugh to get into any kind of trouble, has shocked the residents of Dangriga Town. Courtney Menzies travelled down south and has this story.
Most 14 year olds are preparing to go back to school, but for Kwamie Williams, that future has been cut short. The teenager was gunned down right here on Gumagarugu Street in Dangriga Town last night. But how did this 14 year old find himself staring down the Barrell of a gun? That's what his family is asking.
Zalile Williams, Mother
"I have mixed feelings, I'm angry, I'm sad, I don't know how to feel, I'm weak, you know, it hurts, it really hurts. He isn't a member of any gang, his circle is small, his friends are family, so I don't know who would want to kill him."
Courtney Menzies:
"And he didn't mention that something wrong?"
Zalile Williams, Mother
"No he didn't and if something was wrong he would have mentioned it to me or somebody, somebody would have known that he is in trouble."
His mother, Zalile Williams, had spoken to him only a few hours before his death, and Kwame told her he was going to take a walk. She never expected to get that dreaded phone call later in the night.
Zalile Williams, Mother
"About 9, after 9 so, my father called me and told me that he heard that Kwame had been shot and I was surprised because I was in Hopkins where I work and I spend the night so when I heard that he was shot, it was a surprise to me."
Courtney Menzies:
"So you didn't even know that he hadn't come back yet."
Zalile Williams, Mother
"No I didn't know."
And while she was in Hopkins, an eyewitness who lives on Gumagarugu Road said that he heard seven shots ring out.
Voice of: Francis Noralez, Eyewitness
"I hear the gunshots, after 9, like three minutes pass nine, roll a little draw to smoke and while I'm rolling this draw, gunshot start lick. And the shots sound real loud, so I knew it was right in front of my house but I thought it was police because police like abstract man after curfew, so I thought it was police trying to chase people inside their house. So I took a second peek through my bathroom window and I heard somebody gasping for air. So while I come down I said, what police shoot somebody, make I go see what's going on. So while I going downstairs, I meet my neighbor coming from down so in a taxi and he tell me somebody get shot, see the person there, and it was then is saw somebody on the ground."
"When I saw it was a little boy, it's disturbing to see a little baby boy, 14 years old, I mean what the future of our country will look like if we continue this."
And like his mother, his father, musician Ras Indio, never expected that they would be planning a funeral for a teenager.
But while his father remember him for his talent, his mother and uncle will remember him for his ability to put a smile on anyone's face.
Zalile Williams, Mother
"When I came from work Wednesday night, we were running jokes, like I said he has a good sense of humor, what I love and remember about him, he could tell a good joke, and make you laugh till you want cry and your belly hurt. So that is one of the things I will remember about him, and he loved singing."
And while the police report says that Kwamie had an argument with his stepfather so he went to his grandfather's house, but was killed before he got there, his mother said that account isn't true and that there was no confrontation between her husband and her son.
According to his mother, Kwame was just about to enter first form. We did speak too his Uncle and Father - but the patriarch of the family, artists Bredda Daivid Obi requested that we not use the interviews because they are grieving.
