Gunmen have continued to terrorise a Diego Martin family mourning the loss of a loved one who was killed on Friday.
Police said Jasiah Cooke’s family, friends and neighbours were forced to scamper to safety after gunmen walked up to a gathering during a wake at their house at Kelly Street, Diego Martin, on Sunday and began firing indiscriminately at the crowd, which contained children and elderly people.
It was not known just who was the target of the gunmen but relatives yesterday said they were unwilling to take any more chances and had since fled the property.
Cooke, 22, walked out of his house around 6.20 pm last Friday and went to a nearby parlour to purchase a soft drink. He never made it back home after being shot to death.
The bullet-riddled body of the self-employed man was discovered by a male relative, who, along with a neighbour, rushed him to the St James Infirmary, where he died a short while later.
Reeling in shock following Cooke’s murder and the subsequent attack on Sunday night, which left three people injured, relatives said they were afraid to talk to anyone.
They said while the action had scuttled the idea of any further wakes, they were also afraid to disclose details of the funeral, which they said would now be on a “need-to-know” basis only.
Choosing their words carefully as they spoke with reporters at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, as they waited to identify Cooke’s body, relatives questioned why anyone would want to kill the kind-hearted man.
One woman said, “Every three months, he would cook food and go and share for the homeless opposite Besson Street Police Station.”
She insisted, “He used to do good. I can’t say nothing bad about him.”
Claiming Cooke had not reported receiving any threats to his life, relatives said, “They around wanted him to be affiliated with them and he wasn’t.”
Another woman said he was a happy, go-lucky person “who was good with everybody. He never wanted to choose sides but they wanted him to.”
Confirming Cooke had a son, relatives said Sunday’s incident had left them uneasy and scared.
“We holding wake and gunmen come running down the street, shooting up everybody. They shoot up the place wild and when you think they leave, they come back and start to shoot up again.”
Although an offer for police protection has been extended so the family and community can mourn Cooke safely, the family said, “No. If we have wake, it will be at an undisclosed location.”
Saying she saw Cooke hours before he was killed, a woman said, “This is like a dream to me. It is so surreal to me still.”
“He was one of the most loving youth men around.”