The writing on the notice board mounted on the wall of the cafeteria at First Global Financial Services said it all.

“Mr Thompson was a good man and a friend. I blame Satan. He came in the men’s heart, so God didn’t have a key to get in.

Blame it all on Satan. Today was the worse and I hope Mr Thompson is in heaven. Don’t rub this out. It’s for Mr Thompson. Don’t you love him?”

They are the words of a young child – the daughter of one of Linval Thompson’s co-workers, who was apparently touched by the brazen daylight attack on someone to whom she had become attached.

Twenty-three year-old Thompson – a bearer turned audit clerk at the finance company – was added to the island’s rising murder statistics early last Wednesday morning. He was shot dead by an unidentified gunman as he sat sandwiched between two females in the back seat of a route taxi at the traffic light on Hope Road, at the intersection of Upper Waterloo Road and Trafalgar Road.

He was on his way to his workplace at St Lucia Crescent, New Kingston, where he was employed for four years.

It has since been theorised that Thompson’s death came as a result of him being a witness in the trial of suspects believed to have a hand in the August 2001 killing of his mother and stepfather, who at the time lived at 100 Lane off Red Hills Road, St Andrew.

Fear has gripped his relatives and co-workers. None of them wanted their names used, as they tried to paint a picture of exactly who Thompson was.

“His personality was one that was characterised by happiness, persistence, and respect,” said a male co-worker. “He was an extraordinary young man.”

He had enjoyed life to the fullest, said another of Thompson’s co-workers.

“He apparently never saw (the attack) coming because he was always so happy, always laughing,” she said.

It was obvious, based on their memories, that Thompson had brought to First Global Financial Services, the morals and values instilled in him by his mother before her life came to a brutal end in 2001.

“I don’t know if she foresaw her death, but she always pushed him to go make something of himself, because she did not want him to turn to a life of crime,” said one of his older siblings.

But instead of becoming the business manager he aspired to, Thompson became the fourth member of his family to die by the gun in nine years. Prior to the death of his mother and stepfather, his brother’s life was taken in a similar fashion back in 1996.

Their mother’s death brought about the biggest change in their lives. Fearing a similar fate, the surviving members of the family – including Thompson – who at the time were living between 100 Lane and adjoining Park Lane, fled the area.

“Based on what we saw, read and heard over the years, it just does not make sense,” his sister told the Sunday Observer.

“To me, the security system is in shambles,” she complained. “(I say that because) when my mom reported the incident of guys mashing up her house, the police held them, they got bail, the case was dropped and then they got the chance to seek revenge in murdering my mom. And (they) still live in the community, making other people’s lives miserable.”

According to Thompson’s sister, suggestions were made that he be put in the Witness Protection Programme – a programme in which they had little confidence. Instead, he ended up in Bridgeport, miles away from Red Hills Road, where he slowly developed a sense of relief that his life was no longer at risk.

She added: “Linval is a person who does not like confinement, he’s not afraid, he likes to be up and about. He is high-spirited, free-spirited and never seemed threatened by anything.”

Thompson, casting fears aside, pursued his life’s plans. His first success came in 2003 when he achieved passing grades in Mathematics and English at the CXC exams to add to three prior passes in Principles of Business, History and Accounts he attained at Calabar High School.

“When he got the results, my fiancé and I encouraged him to show his superiors and enquire whether there were any other vacancy, because I never felt comfortable with him riding his bike throughout the Corporate Area to deliver mail,” she explained.

“I had fears of him being killed by gunmen, and I also had some worries that he may become another road victim.”

Her prayers were soon answered as Thompson was promoted to an audit clerk.

But her brother had set his sights on higher education, and began pursuing A’ Levels in preparation for university. He was successful in Business Studies, one of two subjects he sat in 2004, and was preparing to re-sit Sociology in May before he was killed.

“He was so young, he had his whole life ahead of him, he was planning for the future,” his sister said sadly.

She recalled Thompson in his early years – as an energetic toddler growing up at 60 Whitehall Avenue, before they moved to a four-bedroom board house at 100 Lane where they spent the better part of their lives.

“He was just a normal kid, who took corrections, had much respect for his elders, attended church every Sunday and was really involved in church youth clubs and other sporting activities,” she recalled.

At the time, the young lad aspired to become a policeman, but slowly changed his mind to focus on becoming the “manager of a big business”. He thought that “police work was too dangerous”.

His sister said his first achievement came in the Grade Nine Achievement Test, which he sat at the Swallowfield All-age School at Whitehall Avenue.

He won a place at Calabar High School, where he participated in every sporting activity he could fit in.

“He really loved sports,” his sister said. “Apparently he took up sports to try and fill the void (left by our mother’s death).”

For her, “life without Linval” is almost impossible.

“When I heard the news on Wednesday, I was of the belief that he was in a motor vehicle accident,” she told the Sunday Observer. “Even now I can’t believe that he is dead.”

Thompson’s “extended family” at First Global shared a similar feeling.

“Whoever comes to take his place here will have some big shoes to fill,” said one of his co-workers.

For now, they are focused on planning activities for the company’s upcoming sports day, a duty normally carried out by the deceased.

“It will be difficult to carry on without him,” his friend said.