Though the gruesome killing will be forever etched in their memory, the Knight family says it has received some comfort from the charge slapped on patriarch, 64-year-old businessman Delton Knight, in relation to the shooting death of his son, 38-year-old Ruel Knight, a week ago.

“Everybody overwhelmed about the charge. Everybody glad fi di charge. This is what we wanted,” Ricardo Knight, another of the man’s sons and the family spokesman, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

Detectives assigned to the Half-Way-Tree Criminal Investigations Branch charged the senior Knight with murder last Saturday afternoon. He has been in police custody since the fatal shooting on April 12 at the family business — Knight’s Meat and Food Distributors Ltd — on Gordon Town Road, St Andrew, on Monday, April 12.

Prior to the charge, Senior Superintendent of Police Marlon Nesbeth, commanding officer for St Andrew Central, had told the Observer that the father had claimed self-defence.

According to police sources, Knight was charged after a question-and-answer session in the presence of his attorneys.

Police reported that about 9:45 am an argument developed between the senior Knight, who is a licensed firearm holder, and his son Ruel, a Jamaica College past student and former Manning Cup player.

The father, the police said, brandished a firearm and fired shots, hitting Ruel in the chest, then fled the scene.

Shortly after the shooting, Ricardo Knight told the Observer that Ruel’s 14-year-old son had been on the property at the time and saw his father’s body in a pool of blood.

“He has not been coping well with that because he hasn’t gone home since the event. He has been staying at a friend’s house,” Ricardo Knight said yesterday.

“The only people he really had were his mother, who is overseas, and Ruel. So, if you minus Ruel out of the equation, him really don’t have anybody to be there for him,” Knight related.

He said that friends and customers have been providing emotional support to the family.

“It’s really helping. Trust me, we really appreciate all the support from the people. People from all over a send condolences and I am replying to as much messages that I can reply to. Mommy is able to cope now. It’s just three days ago that she start eating again,” he said.

Ricardo said since the incident he and his other sibling have been keeping the over-30-year-old family business afloat.

“We are pitching in now and lending our support to make sure seh the business up and running same way,” he said.

He also commended the police for their investigation.

“They have taken the footage for their further investigations, which we are glad for,” he said in reference to closed-circuit television footage of the shooting.

Attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie, who is representing the father, said there will be a court hearing later this week. He told the Observer that what will unfold then is dependent on a number of variables.

“When full disclosure is made to me as one of the lawyers, we will then make a determination as to how we proceed. This incident, like all incidents, I would imagine, is most unfortunate. But this one in particular is very sensitive because I would imagine that no father would want to be in a position like this and no sibling of the person who died would want to be in a position like this,” said Champagnie.