Tonight, San Pedro town is reeling from the shock of a midnight mass shooting that hit 7 people, and left 3 dead - including a 3 year old.
It's a total tragedy and that it happened weeks away from the start of the tourism high season, is both tragic and terrifying for the island town.
It happened in the San Pedrito area early this morning, when 25-year-old Delmar Rodriguez was only a few feet away from his home. His daughter was asleep in her mother's arms, and two other men were riding along in their golf cart.
In a split second, three of those five persons were murdered.
But unlike most cases where the gunmen are unknown, in this case the family says they know the who and why, but those answers are cold comfort; knowing who did it, will not bring back their dead.
Courtney Menzies went to San Pedro today to find out what led to the shooting - and again, it's drug wars which led to this indiscriminate violence:
Courtney Menzies: This is where 3 year old Amari Rodriguez took her last few breaths. The innocent toddler was a casualty of a drug war that she had no part in.
She was riding in a golf cart with her father when a spray of bullets rained down and killed them both, along with another passenger.
And now with three dead and four others injured - three of them still in critical condition - the family of the little girl, who lost her life before it even began, is trying to cope with the sudden and violent loss.
Voice of: Sister of Deceased
"It really hurt me, they took away my niece, she was the only girl in the yard, she was my princess, my everything. Me and my brother, yes, we go through ups and downs but five minutes we done happy again. He was a fisherman, from work to home, he gave his life for his kids."
"I was sitting waiting for him at the window but he never reached home, and he will never come home again."
25-year-old Delmar Rodriguez had recently returned from fishing with lobster to sell. He borrowed his sister's golf cart to change a cheque, and she suspected he took his family to Sandy toes to treat them.
But it was on his way home around midnight that he, his daughter, and another fisherman were caught up in gunfire.
But why such a violent death for a father of three? His uncle says he believes it was drug related.
Jorge Aldana, Uncle of Deceased
"My nephew was no innocent person and I'll be the first person to admit that at some point they were involved in some level of illicit activities and he tried to move away from that level of activity in fact he had been cooperating with police over the past year. He has cooperated with police as recent as Friday when he received threats by the same people now that are being sought by police that he was going to be killed. He tried to cooperate as much as possible with police in different levels of investigation and so I believe the break away, there have been several theories floating around, one of them he had sought to give police some level of information that was incriminating to them and so it was time to get rid of who knows a lot, right."
And he also believes the cops have a hand in the death of his nephew and grand niece.
Jorge Aldana, Uncle of Deceased
"There have been several instances where my nephew has, and not only me nephew but several other street elements have come forward to police feeding them with evidence and information about rogue police officers on the island who aid, assist and facilitate these known terrorists in their illicit activities. Police that my nephew as recent as Friday gave police information that some of these police offices have benefitted in the vicinity of $8,000 to facilitate and aid criminals in San Pedro. So if you're asking me if rogue police officers I strongly believe that blood is on the hands of rogue police officers who aided and abetted with these criminals."
But they aren't the ones who pulled the trigger. After numerous threats to Rodriguez's life over the past few weeks, the killers finally attacked, and one of the suspects named by police, Christian Espat is someone the family knows all too well.
Voice of: Sister of Deceased
"The person who did it, like I said, they are some cold blooded persons, they are some cowards because if they wanted to kill my brother, they should have killed him when he was by himself, not with my niece. He that did it has no shame because he knows we have done a lot for him."
Courtney Menzies:
"So he was a family friend before this?"
Voice of: Sister of Deceased
"Yes."
Jorge Aldana, Uncle of Deceased
"One of the main persons being sought by police used to live in the very same yard here so they grew up together in the same home, my sister in law, my nephew's mother helped raised this child, who is one of the persons being sought by police."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"What we are gathered in terms of a mptive is that they may have been some drugs found by one of the deceased person. As you would know that one of the deceased person is a close affiliate of Christian Espat and apparantly after drugs were found, there was a divison between them due to the fact that what we are hearing there was not an equitable share of the drugs and based on that he was targeted by the Espats."
Jorge Aldana, Uncle of Deceased
"I believe that terrorists know no boundaries and they have no allies when it's all at stake for them, they're all out to get you. Unfortunately a three year old is involved in the shooting and that's a travesty."
A travesty that will scar this family for a lifetime. Rodriguez's sister recalled the last few moments she spent with her brother and her niece.
Voice of: Sister of Deceased
"I never go and sit down at the bridge like that with him to see what he catch and yesterday I went with my two sister in laws, my two brothers and my niece still called, daddy, daddy, you bring lobster for me? And Delmar told her, yes. He took his angel with him."
And now his 7 month old and 7 year old sons will have to grow up without a father, and the family is fearing for their lives and their mother's as well.
But they're hoping that by cooperating, the police will keep an eye out for them.
Tonight, three of the gunshot victims are now in a stable condition, but one remains in a critical state.
These victims are Jose Hernandez, Leonel Cornejo, Ivan Guerra, and Randy Guerra.
Cornejo was on the golf cart with the Rodriguez family and drove baby Amari and her mother to the hospital. The other three were visiting the area.
And we should note this isn't the first time a toddler has lost their life to a gun in a drug war involving the Espat family. Back in 2015, Rolando Espat's two year old son was killed as he slept with his mother in their home.
