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Family in pain at Oliver Smith's killing
BY KIMMO MATTHEWS, Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, July 06, 2009
Disbelief was etched on Pearl Smith's face yesterday.
Her 37-year-old brother, Oliver Smith, a security guard, had died in hospital Saturday, after being shot during an exchange between gunmen and a licensed firearm holder.
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| SMITH. was a hard working and very polite individual |
Police report that Oliver Smith was on duty in New Kingston when two armed men, after robbing a bearer at the intersection of Trinidad Terrace and Grenada Crescent, were challenged by the licensed firearm holder.
Smith was hit, rushed to hospital, but died while being treated.
Yesterday, at Pearl Smith's home at St Johns Road, Spanish Town, the air was pregnant with anger and pain - pain at the memory of the tragic loss of another member of the family last year.
"I can't explain it, just last year I buried my nephew, Marlon McDonald, who was shot and killed by gunmen just metres away from where I live," said Pearl Smith. McDonald, she said, was 26 years-old.
And if that was not bad enough, in 2002 Pearl Smith had to bury her oldest brother, Carl Smith, 38, otherwise called Courtney.
Pearl also lost her father in 2000. He died of natural causes.
"Why me, why me?" she asked yesterday, looking to the sky as if begging for answers.
"To make matters worse, there are so many questions surrounding my brother's death," she said, pointing out that no one had explained to the family the circumstances surrounding Oliver's killing.
Pearl's sister, Joyce McDonald, was just as distraught and angry. "You ever see anything like this? Is just last week Wednesday him move into him house that him building, and to hear this now and the fact that nobody not talking what happen, it is even more painful," she said.
Yesterday, Earl Blackwood, supervisor at Vanguard Security where Oliver Smith worked for nine years, spoke highly of Smith.
"He was a very professional person. He was a hard-working and very polite individual. The family at Vanguard is at a loss for words at this time," said Blackwood.
Smith, who for some time was posted at the Observer, is also survived by two children, 12 and 14.
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