SHORTLY before he was killed last Friday night, 23-year-old Kamari Miles was at home on Salkey Avenue in Duhaney Park, St Andrew, making French fries.

About 8:10, residents reportedly heard Miles screaming out for help. Immediately after, they heard loud explosions.

According to the constabulary’s Corporate Communications Unit residents alerted the police who, upon arrival, found Miles, a manager at business process outsourcing company IBEX, with gunshot wounds.

The Hunt’s Bay Police reported that Miles was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

His sister, Tameka McLauchlin, who communicated with him mere minutes before, told the Jamaica Observer that Miles had sent her a phone text asking if she was okay.

“The last conversation we had was on Friday night, I’m assuming when he got home from work. He asked me what’s up and how was my day and I asked him how was his and how was work. He said it was good and he was going to make some fries. He told me his job was going good and he was getting used to his new position,” McLauchlin, who is living in the United States, recalled.

“My brother was my best friend, confidante, protector. We would be in a room together and look at each other and we both knew what we were thinking. He spent almost every summer with me, no matter which state I was living in. He would check on me every morning and he was the person I spoke to at night before bed,” she said.

McLauchlin said she learned about her brother’s murder when a family member, who lives in the area, called her via video chat on Instagram.

“Prior to his promotion he was supposed to take a leave of absence to spend the summer with me. This is very hard on me, as expected. I never thought I would have been burying my little brother. My life will never be the same without him. I just can’t believe someone took his life in that way. We have never lost a family member to violence,” she said.

Miles had lost both parents back to back due to natural causes. His father died in November 2017, and his and McLauchlin’s mother died in January 2018.

“I remember when they were both sick he would be running back and forth in the same hospital visiting them both. It was rough, and still is. Kamari was a very strong individual. He had so much strength after all he’s been through,” she said.

Miles graduated from Calabar High School in 2014. He then went on to sixth form before entering University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech).

Reverend Stephen Smith, guidance counsellor at Calabar, told the Observer that he remembers Miles as pleasant.

“It’s really sad. I am heartbroken. It’s painful. Miles has always been a very pleasant student in my interactions with him. He is always smiling, always engaging, very respectful; just a good kid,” Smith said in a sombre tone.

“When I heard some minutes after six Saturday morning from another past student, it really dampened my entire day. It’s really hard to come to terms with his passing. It’s difficult when you have engaged with a student and you’ve journeyed with them and then to hear that their life has been snuffed out in this way,” Smith said.

“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our young men. I ask you, I plead with you, cease the violence and the killing. It is senseless. Begin to value the life of another individual. It is because we don’t value each other’s lives why we do something like this. It’s a painful thing. I’m just picturing Miles right now. He went on to sixth form. It speaks to the fact that he’s a brilliant young man with a brilliant mind. So much purpose and potential has been cut short by his tragic end. It is sad.”

Nickeisha Lynch, who taught Miles mathematics, said she was stung on receiving the news.

“It was a pleasure having him as a student. He was [a] brilliant, promising and well-mannered student. I hope he rests well. My condolence to his family and friends,” she told the Observer.

Kadane Bryan, a former classmate, said: “Coming from high school days we used to walk to the bus stop together and we just built a friendship from then. Him nuh trouble people, as far as I know. Kamari is a humble youth… jovial, friendly and love run jokes. Overall, just a good person to be around.”

One of Miles’ co-workers at IBEX told the Observer that his loss is painful.

“It is senseless, and we here at IBEX are mourning the loss of a great one,” she said.

One of his childhood friends, Sharifa Williams, described him as humble.

“He was the first person I became friends with upon moving to that address. If there’s one thing you could tell the world about him, I would tell the world that he is humble and anything that involves drama would never get his attention. This is because I want people who do not know him to get an understanding of who he really was,” said Williams.