Make-up artist murdered at home

"Mi mada gone, my father gone, my sister gone. A just me one now."

Those were the only words Sherdon Mitchell could find to express his grief, merely hours after his sister, 28-year-old Shackela Mitchell, was shot and killed at her home along Jordan Road, off Maxfield Avenue in St Andrew on Sunday night. Mitchell told the news team that he had left Shackela, a budding make-up artist at Kela Custom Faces, at their home to go to the Norman Manley International Airport. Upon his return, he was greeted with the gut-wrenching news of his sister's demise.

"She always outside, she and her friend dem. Right a the gate me lef her and when me come back, me see the crowd down the road. Me a say 'That look like a right a my gate'. When me come closer, me see her pon the ground and everybody a bawl," the elder sibling related. Clutching a cup of mint tea tightly, the first meal he had since 9 a.m. Monday, Mitchell stood emotionless. The loss of is sister follows the death of his father in 2020, and his mother in 2008.

Police reports from the Constabulary Communications Network detail that about 7:40 p.m., Shackela was standing at her gate when she was pounced upon by unknown assailants who fired shots at her.The police were summoned and she was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Huts Bay police are investigating.

"Me come back and hear say 'Sherdene' [Shackela's nickname] dead. Me couldn't even look good pon her. Me see her lay down inna the dirt, me couldn't believe because me just lef her right a the gate. Me only coulda go out a the yard, lean up pon a van and start cry. Me couldn't do nothing else," Mitchell told THE STAR.

Old tyres and barrels strewn across the roadway, bore testament of a community under siege. Residents did not venture onto the roadway, rather seeking refuge behind their zinc fences and barricaded gates. One person who spoke to the news team behind her wall, stressed that the fear is real.

"Everybody just affi draw inside them gate. The area nuh always hot, because it have it times when it up and den it just calm down. But this start up back a war. Dem just shoot up the girl just so," the resident said, adding that the area has been tense since a man and woman were killed along Burke Road last month. The deceased were identified as Phillipa Gordon, 48,, a janitor of Caledonia Lane, Kingston 13, and Andre Wanhue, 54, of Grove Road, Kingston 10.

Mitchell said that incidents like this make him think of leaving the area, but he has nowhere to go.

"When me get pay, me affi go start think bout rent, water, light and Internet. The likkle money weh me get a week time ago done before me even reach home. Not everybody can afford fi leave so we just affi live," Mitchell said.