PORTLAND — Residents of Bar Hill in Portland say the usual happiness among members of the community has turned to sorrow since Monday’s murder of 44-year-old fisherman Michael Davis outside his house.

“I hear about six or seven shots about four minutes to two and I rushed out in my underpants and look up and down the road if a see anything. I didn’t see anything but on my way back a saw two men coming across a fence with a phone light and a hear one say, ‘Buss him’. And by them buss the gunshot I ‘chuck’ into the bush. So mi run through the bush and mi hear the dogs barking at them,” said a resident.

“I came out and went up the road and look across, as I was in the middle road, when mi see Davis’s body at his gate. Mi start bawl out, ‘Murda! Murda! Dem kill Eddie White’.”

That is the name by which many residents fondly addressed Davis.

“Him wife jus a bawl so; the whole community in shock,” added the man.

According to the police, Davis and his family were approached by two masked gunmen after returning home from an event about 2:00 am on Monday. The armed men, who demanded that the group turn over their belongings, shot Davis while he was locking the gate. He was pronounced dead at hospital but other family members escaped without being hurt.

Residents believe Davis was targeted for earnings from a fund-raiser he hosted on the weekend.

“We had a weekend sport jam Saturday; no trouble. Sunday was his. All of us there played we game, drink, and no argument. Then this go happen,” said one man. “Mi mash up man. It rough. Me bawl as me could a lose my life same way.”

He is hoping the killers will soon be brought to justice.

“I think the police dem a work. I want dem catch dis killa. Dem hold up the wife and daughter and tek weh di money den kill him as him come in. A nuh jus robbery dat; dem jus come fi kill Eddie White cause dem rob up di money already,” he said, his eyes welling with tears.

And though he said he had no idea why Davis was killed, an elderly man seated on the corner at the entrance to Bar Hill was just as saddened by his death.

“We feel terrible man; it’s a bad way he died. I don’t know of any reason why they killed him. He was a good fisherman; he is good to family, friends and strangers,” he said.

Another elderly neighbour, Maurice Bryan, spoke of the man Davis had been.

“Eddie White was a calm person. Him run him bar, do him fishing, a quiet and very kind person. He was very helpful and him always help out in everything that is happening in the community,” he said, adding that he was saddened by the death.

Eighty-eight-year-old Lebert Watson was particularly perturbed that Davis had not been allowed to experience more of life.

“We are very sad and sorry that he went that way. He’s a young man with a great future ahead of him. We are so sorry that his life could go like that,” he said. “We are fearful. Is a good man dem kill; a good and kind fisherman. Him give people food fi eat; he’s one of the kindest fisherman I know.”

Davis is the fifth person killed in Portland this year.

— Everard Owen