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Coach murdered at kiddies football competition
BY KARYL WALKER Observer staff reporter
Friday, November 03, 2006

A 10-year-old boy, who was getting ready to participate in a school football competition with more than 50 of his peers, watched petrified yesterday as a gunman walked up to his football coach dad on the sideline and shot him in the back of the head.

As Derrick Lewis, 36, lay on the ground, his attacker shot him once more.
Confused, a number of screaming children ran blindly into the gunman's path as he sprinted across the football field into a waiting motor vehicle.

This student of the Chetolah Park Primary School weeps for the security guard and football coach of the school, Derrick Lewis, who was killed in front of more than 50 children at a Kingston and St Andrew Primary league match yesterday. Officials at the school say professional counselling is being sought to reassure the traumatised students. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

The brazen midday murder of the Chetolah Park Primary School coach just before the start of the Kingston and St Andrew Primary league match at the playing field behind the Tinson Pen aerodrome in St Andrew has left students and teachers in shock.
School principal Iris Hollingworth said that because of the incident, professional counsellors were being sought to help the student body to adjust.

"We will have to seek help for the children are in a state of shock and trauma," Hollingworth told the Observer.
Scores of students gathered inside a classroom and wept uncontrollably. A female teacher tried to stay calm as she consoled the devastated children, none of them older than 12 years old.

"He was very good to them and even those who were not at the match are very disturbed," the teacher said, as she fought back tears.
Lewis also doubled as a security guard at the school.
One boy did not cry; he merely stared into space. About 10 minutes later, the child spoke.

"We were shaking hands [for the start of the game] and the man come and kill him. We frighten and start run up and down like we mad," the boy said. He was still trembling from the experience.
The children from Chetolah Park Primary, who were in Lewis' care, were alone until cops from the Hunts Bay Police Station arrived on the scene.

A number of students from St Jude's and Jessie Ripoll primary, who were scheduled to participate in the competition will also require counselling.
Detective Inspector Altemoth 'Parra' Campbell is a hardened cop who has worked in the trenches for most of his policing life, but yesterday's killing softened the tough cop.

"I have seen some brutal things, but this one jerked me. The children, parents and teachers hugged each other and cried," Campbell told the Observer.

The police say Lewis was standing on the sideline when the gunman crept up behind him and shot him in the back of the head as the match was about to begin.
Lewis was one of three people reported killed in the Corporate Area up to press time yesterday.

The others have been identified as 37-year-old general manager of BJ Hanna and Sons, Rose Garcia, and 20-year-old Raymond Murdock, also known as 'Boops'.

Police report that Garcia arrived at work yesterday morning when a gunman attacked and shot her before fleeing the scene on foot. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Murdock was shot several times as he walked along Deanery Road in St Andrew shortly after 12:00 pm. Police say two men on a motorcycle rode up and shot Murdock several times. He died on the spot.


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