Five years on, the memory of a friend and loyal passenger being shot still haunts Damion Deer.

The fact that the man eventually died has made the experience even more painful for the taxi driver who has admitted that he sometimes thinks of seeking another way of making a living.

“Sometimes, mi nah tell no lie, mi wish seh mi coulda do a different job, but mi nuh have no more source [of income] fi push out because at the end of the day, mi have three youth and mi haffi out deh fi dem. Mi cyaan just sit down a yard,” Deer told the Jamaica Observer.

“Out here, you haffi see and blind and hear and deaf,” he added.

The terrifying event, he recalled, occurred one night as he was awaiting passengers at the Price Rite/ Chancery Street terminus.

The young man, he said, was crossing the road. Deer did not witness the shooting as his back was turned to the road. He said that when he heard the explosions he looked around and saw the young man on the ground.

“A me haffi tek him up and go a hospital. Mi did think him very strong weh him coulda live, but by the next morning mi hear seh him die,” he recalled.

Deer said that during the journey to Kingston Public Hospital he continuously spoke to the injured man.

“Mi did a talk to him to see if everything alright with him and mi did a try fi keep him up and he was so strong, and when mi reach a di hospital him still a talk,” he said.

“Fi a youth weh mi know, it break me down, and to me it wicked bad, because a right cross the road. He was a loyal passenger and somebody mi know inna di area,” Deer said.

Name: Damion Deer

Age: 41

Length of career: 15 years

Route: Price Rite to Three Miles, St Andrew