GoFundMe launched to pay for slain selector’s burial, son’s education
WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — Friends of slain selector Andre ‘DJ Jashie’ Barker have created a GoFundMe account, called ‘Justice for Jashie’, to raise US$20,000 for his burial and to go towards his three-year-old son’s education. Meanwhile his grieving widow has expressed concern about the status of the on-going police investigation into his June 11 murder.
“Gun violence in Jamaica happens too often, and I want the persons who did it to be held accountable,” said Boston-based family friend Tina Fields-Aljoe who set up the online fund raising account. Barker, who was loved and respected in Boston she said, had not been a violent man. He was killed on June 11, allegedly after an altercation between himself and a licensed firearm holder who later turned himself over to the police. According to OBSERVER ONLINE sources that individual was not charged in connection with the incident.
The slain selector’s wife Kimloy Latham-Barker who said she has heard comments from civilians that the spent shells at the scene did not match the licensed gun holder’s firearm, is concerned about the integrity of the investigation into her husband’s murder.
“Everything that the police know, civilians know,” shared the puzzled widow. “What kind of investigation is this?” she yelled.
She is still reeling from the brutality of the murder. “I can’t count the amount of shots my husband received in his hands back and his chest!” she raged.
When contacted, the police force’s Corporate Communications Unit said Westmoreland’s Criminal Investigative Branch had no further information on the incident. Barker is among the 44 persons murdered in the parish between January 1 and June 14.
– Kimberley Peddie