‘They didn’t see the murder coming’
ESSEX, St Mary — Residents of this usually peaceful rural community have been left in stunned disbelief at Wednesday night’s suspected murder and attempted suicide that left 21-year-old D’Johnnay Graham dead and her cop boyfriend wounded.
“The community tense and is in shock. They don’t want to see the guy or any of his relatives because it is going to give them a reminder of what happened,” Councillor Paul Fyffe (People’s National Party, Highgate Division) told the Jamaica Observer Thursday afternoon.
According to Fyffe, Graham’s mother is feeling a sense of betrayal having accepted and treated the accused shooter like a member of the family.
“I have visited the family and it’s a lot of crying and remorse because they didn’t see the murder coming. The young man would’ve visited the home and portrayed himself as a family person. The mother even treated him like a son so they would cook and have fun and he would participate. So, for him to do something like that is just shocking,” Fyffe said.
“Based on what I was told they would’ve seen some conflict between the boyfriend and the young lady but they didn’t see the murder coming. The young girl’s mother said she was sitting in the living room when she heard the shot and thought her son-in-law was testing out the gun,” the councillor added.
According to the Constabulary Communications Network, the information arm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, residents called the police after hearing explosions about 9:15 pm Wednesday. Cops arrived to find two individuals with gunshot wounds. Graham was pronounced dead at hospital while the lawman, who is assigned to the St Andrew North Division, received medical treatment.
Councillor Fyffe told the Observer Graham had big plans for her future.
“The young girl was planning on going to teachers’ college in September — she was a teacher’s assistant — and this young man [allegedly] just end her life over jealousy that he can’t even prove,” said Fyffe.
The incident is being probed by the Independent Commission of Investigations.
