After his father died in a motor vehicle accident in 2010, and his brother in 2014 due to asthma, 36-year-old Kayon Thompson was the only male remaining in his immediate family.

And so, the businessman vowed to support and provide for his mother, younger sister, and by extension, his five children — ages one, four, six, 12 and 16 — no matter what.

The main way he did so was by operating a bar in Bogue Hill, on his family property, overlooking the St James capital of Montego Bay. But on August 27, Thompson was shot and killed at his bar by gunmen during what police described as an “illegal party.”

However, his family, bereaved and torn, told the Jamaica Observer that the event at which their “breadwinner” was murdered, was an attempt by him to generate income to support the family through hard times brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“All of what he did is for the family,” sister Kellisia Thompson stated. “Everything that he did. My brother is all about my mother, his kids and me. We don’t have anybody else. My older brother and my father died couple years back, so it was just the three of us. Fourteen years ago, asthma killed my other brother and seven year ago, my father died in a crash. He told my mother that he is the man of the house now. The three men I am used to in my life just gone leave me,” stated Kellisia, who was shot in the arm during the attack.

She was adamant that there was no party at the time.

“It was a bingo party in the day. Rain fall and nobody came. It wasn’t an illegal party. The place was just still open in the night, because it is right on the property. Right across from the house. We sat down in the bar the night and he was asking if he should keep the bingo party next week, because nobody came. We had a big tent with a kitchen and the food never sell off.”

A police source told the Sunday Observer that “two men were fatally shot, and a female injured when gunmen reportedly invaded an illegal party. About 11:20 pm, a party was in full swing in front of a bar in Bogue Hill when gunmen pounced upon a group of revellers and opened fire.”

This was four hours after the islandwide COVID-19 curfew hours would’ve begun.

After the incident, three people — Thompson, his sister and a friend were found suffering from gunshot wounds. They were taken to hospital where Thompson and the unidentified man were pronounced dead. Kellisia was treated.

Kellisia recalled the heartbreaking moment that she has been trying hard to forget ever since.

“Me get shot too. Standing here, me give up pon life. It’s just because I have to be there for my mother and the kids. But I don’t really feel life. It is just the truth,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“When I got shot, me never did a worry about myself. Me a worry about my brother. Me nuh business with my hand and me not even know how me hand stay. I was just trying to save him. Me a talk to him from we a travel to the hospital and me say ‘yuh afi make it.’ He was alive during the journey, and he died while we were at the hospital,” she continued.

One of the last things her brother heard her saying was “hold on… just two more minutes” while they were on their way to Cornwall Regional Hospital.

“He was just making sounds and the driver was telling me to talk to him. I was telling him that we were going up Salem Hill. But he was there not talking. He was just making sounds. When we reached the hospital, him eyes dem roll over but him did a make sound same way.

“We deh a the hospital now, so just hold on a little bit more,” she told him then.

Upon arrival, Kellisia told the Sunday Observer that she had to leave her brother so she could go and register him. At that time, her untreated gunshot wound was the least of her worries.

“My hand was just swinging and bleeding. Blood just a run all over the place,” she recalled.

It was not until she finished the registration process that her arm was treated.

“When I came back, they had him in a room and doctors took me to another room to look at my hand. I was there thinking everything alright and about five minutes after, a nurse came and said that a doctor want me.”

When Kellisia was taken to the doctor, she was invited in a room. Realising her brother wasn’t inside, she said she wasn’t the most cooperative at first.

“Me bredda nuh ina di room, suh weh yah call me in yah fah? Weh yah call me ina room fah?” she asked the doctor angrily.

“Miss Thompson, calm down and sit down let me talk to you about your brother,” the doctor advised.

When Kellisia eventually sat down, she learned that her brother died indirectly.

“Miss Thompson, I am sorry,” the doctor continued.

“From she say that, me get up and walk out. Me walk straight through the hospital door go lay dung ina the middle a the road. From somebody tell you ‘I am sorry’ you know the person nuh make it,” added Kellisia.

Further, Thompson’s autopsy was done on Thursday, September 30, and the family is yet to decide on a burial date. Kellisia told the Sunday Observer that given the circumstances, the family was still reeling from the loss.

“His one-year-old daughter just turned one about one week before he died. My mother bawl every day, every day. She get up in the early morning and she walk round the house and a call him. It is not good. The kids, the big ones are not good. They are not talking. The other three young ones don’t understand. It’s really hard. Him love him family. It was just him, me, my mother and his kids. I called him my other half. He is my other half. Him nuh do anything without me and I don’t do anything without him.

“When it comes on to the business, I give him my opinion and him give me his opinion. We nah make no decision without each other. Him never really liked the idea when me start work. He said he would take care of me. Him always willing fi help people. If you’re unemployed and want something fi do, him help yuh find a day work. He is always sharing. If him see that yuh ina one slippers weh nuh stay good, him go in him house for a pair to give yuh. If it can’t fit yuh, him buy yuh one.”

Kellisia said it would be ideal to pick up the reins and see to the operating of the business, but has found it difficult to even return to the bar.

“I don’t have that mindset yet. I don’t know when. I have not been in the bar since the incident. After I spent three days at the hospital and came back, I don’t go anywhere near it. It’s hard. It’s going to bring back memories. Him dead inside a him business place so why would we want to reopen it? I don’t have that heart yet. Maybe next year some time, but not for now,” she said.