TWENTY-eight-year-old Melissa Folkes’ dream of becoming a bride before she turns 30 was shattered by a single bullet on Saturday, when a member of the Island Special Constabulary Force shot dead her fiancé at the busy Portmore bus stop in Half-Way-Tree.

“I never expected this would happen to [him],” said a grief-stricken Folkes of her lover – Trevor ‘Delroy’ Anderson, 38, with whom she had expected to spend the rest of her life.

“I expected him to come home. We were planning on getting married although we never settled on a date. It’s painful,” said Folkes, as she paused to compose herself. “It’s rough.”

The interview was interrupted several times by callers expressing their condolences – including one offering to bring her a meal. She refused the offer. “No, just bring something to drink,” she requested.

Folkes, whose eyes were red from crying, hadn’t eaten much since her fiancé’s death.

According to the police, Anderson – a mechanic and father of three – was shot after hitting a member of the ISCF with his Toyota Corolla motor car after ignoring a warning to stop.

But several persons claiming to be eyewitnesses said the mechanic was shot while attempting to drive away his vehicle from a stall where he was making a purchase. As a result he lost control of the vehicle which made angry contact with a utility pole several feet away at the intersection of Hagley and Eastwood Park roads.

The police said the constable involved in the shooting has since been taken off frontline duty as the Bureau of Special Investigation carries out its investigation.

On Monday, Folkes, along with other family members and friends, staged a peaceful demonstration outside the offices of the commissioner of police along Old Hope Road calling for the special constable to be brought to “justice”.

The group described Anderson as a “kind, loving and jovial” person who would never harm anyone, “furthermore a police!”

“He was always smiling,” said Folkes, who had been cohabiting with Anderson for the last three years in West Cumberland Portmore, St Catherine.

“He was a cool person, who never spoke much,” interjected a friend of the couple, who gave her name only as Suzan.

“Saturday morning before he left the house he kissed me and said ‘Love you, wifie, see you later’,” Folkes recounted.

She said at approximately 2:00 pm on Saturday, he called her again to tell her just how much he really loved her. Three hours later she got the distressing news.

“That was the last conversation we had,” said Folkes, before sinking in a verandah chair beside her mother Ivylin and her friend Suzan. “He was always there for me.”