An early morning murder has left a young man dead and another man wanted by the police. 21-year-old Andre Vernon was out enjoying the nightlife with his girlfriend, but when he got home on Madam Liz Crescent around 2 this morning, he was executed in cold blood. Police say he was targeted by someone he knew, and someone with whom he had recently had a conflict.
But regardless of the motive, Vernon's life was callously ripped away from him, leaving those who loved him in a sea of grief.
Courtney Menzies spoke with his aunt today and has this story.
21-year-old Andre Vernon had just started a job a little over a year ago as a security guard, and he had big dreams for the rest of his life. But all those plans vanished with the pull of a trigger. Vernon was fatally shot in front of his family home on Madam Liz Crescent around 2 this morning.
Reports are that he'd gone to a club earlier in the night with his girlfriend, and when he was buying food at an establishment near his house, he got into an argument that turned deadly for him.
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"Initial investigations reveal that Andre Vernon, 21 year old security guard and his girlfriend arrived at home sometime around 2:08am and they were standing in front of their residence when a faded gold in color Tribute passed them, the vehicle made a turn at the end of the street, the vehicle then came back and a person exited one of the rear doors of that vehicle and fired several shots at Mr Vernon, fatally injuring him. The vehicle then sped off, Mr Vernon's body was transported to the KHMH where he was pronounced dead sometime around 4am. We are looking for one person that we believe may have information that would help to clear up this latest murder. We have received information so far that would suggest that Mr Vernon and his assailant knew each other."
The police are now advising the murderer to turn himself in, especially since the police know his identity since he killed Vernon in front of the victim's own family. According to his aunt - who helped to raise him - they had begged the gunman to spare his life.
Voice of: Roselda Sinclair, Aunt of Deceased
"I was up in my room, I was up in my room because I heard some noise downstairs in which his girlfriend was telling him let's go home because you heard already that the guy went for a gun, so let's go home. And I decided to go downstairs but I didn't go right away. A vehicle came and I heard my daughter saying, please don't kill my nephew, and I heard bang bang and I went downstairs and when I went downstairs, there was another shooting, that means that he walked away and came back."
"I understand that he asked when the person came out of the vehicle, because according to rumors going around, it was a passing vehicle, when that wasn't the case, that car came specifically to kill my nephew. He asked what I did to you, and my daughter said that the person shot my nephew in the face and then started shooting him in the head, in the back of his neck, and different parts of the body then he walked away and he came back again and finished him off."
Now this family is left in a state of dismay, trying to process how a young, innocent man's life could be taken away in a second. His aunt told us that Vernon touched a lot of lives, and they've all been devastated by his death.
Voice of: Roselda Sinclair, Aunt of Deceased
"What happened is that I raised my nephew from about a year and change because his mom joined the police force and she left him with me so I took care of him all those times, sent him to school, so I'm real hurt about it."
"He was so nice, and the way, well, let me say, I was happy about what he was doing, he worked a security and when he finished he come home and he bought a new cycle so that he could do messenger job to make extra money. He was so jovial, always have people laughing, he loved dancing, most of the time he would be downstairs playing music."
"He's not a troublemaker, everybody knows that. So many people are coming here crying, he was such a sweet person. It's very hard, I don't know how I'm going to cope with it."
Vernon had no children.
