Rosemount Primary and Infant School Principal Malaicha Sinclair-Bailey was a picture of emotional pain as she shared memories of four-year-old Shannon Gordon and 39-year-old Iysha Washington who were among five people slaughtered in a mass shooting in Commodore, Linstead, St Catherine, Sunday night.

“It is sad. I was with the young lady recently when we had the launch of a breakfast programme. The other student who got injured, she was just about to become a prefect, and it is sad. The parent who died, her daughter is a student and she got highly proficient in Primary Exit Profile grade four in mathematics,” Sinclair-Bailey said on Monday.

The other deceased have been identified as 42-year-old Mario Sullivan of an address in Rosemount District in Linstead, 19-year-old Jushane Edwards, and a 22-year-old security guard identified only as Famous Amos.

Four other people, including an 11-year-old girl, were shot and injured.

The principal recalled four-year-old Shannon being a “bright child” and shared an encounter she had with Washington just hours before she was murdered.

“The mother who died, I saw her Sunday evening. I was waiting at the car wash after 5:00 pm… because I know my students I was chilling in my car and I rolled the window down. She said ‘Princi, we came to celebrate our daughter’s birthday’. She took my phone and took a picture of the child which I placed on my status to celebrate my student as I have always done. I gave her $1,000, I gave the child $1,000 and her aunt got $1,000,” the principal said.

She said later in the night she started getting phone calls about the killings.

“I cried. I can only conclude that it is time for us to stop the crime and violence. It is time for us to stop killing our children. I have all confidence that the Jamaica Constabulary Force will do justice. We all cry together at this time,” Sinclair-Bailey added.

Face-to-face classes were replaced by online instruction on Monday as school administrators were busy cleaning up after a period of rain over the weekend.

Today, when students return to school, they are expected to begin receiving grief counselling to help them cope with the brutal loss of their schoolmate.

Chairman of the school board Courtney Golding, who lives in Commodore, said whatever support the students and staff need it will be made available to them at this difficult time.

“We will have all the necessary backup for them. You know the Ministry of Education has a counselling unit. We endeavour to bring in that unit. Already the ministry is in touch with us and we are ensuring that the children will be adequately administered to and, as chairman and as a pastor, I will be there too to share with them,” he said.

Golding said he heard the explosions shatter the stillness of the night.

“From where I live I heard a barrage of gunshots. Some of the people who died I know them personally. It is a real tragedy. It is very unfortunate. I was going on the road with my wife and she asked me if I was ready. I didn’t answer her for whatever reason and she didn’t ask me again. We were scheduled to be at church Sunday night and to leave church at 8:30 pm. We would have run straight into it,” he said.

“When I heard the barrage of gunshots, I recognised my wife was really traumatised. We heard when it subsided and a vehicle left in a hurry. Never ever in my lifetime in Commodore have we had five people destroyed at the same time. I can assure the police that I am not afraid and I will always stand on the side of law enforcement and defend law and order. This must not repeat itself. This is a disgrace. A four-year-old child was murdered. It is wrong, ungodly, and it is not Jamaica,” he said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Hopton Nicholson, who is the commanding officer of the St Catherine North Police Division, sought to assure the Rosemount Primary family the police will do everything within their power to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“We are going to use all legal means to pursue these suspects and we are going to bring them to justice. In the meantime, we just want to offer our condolence as a police force to the school family, understanding that you are hurting. We understand that the community is hurting and together we have to get rid of these criminals and put them where they belong,” he said.

“Our peer counsellors will be coming to the classroom tomorrow or whenever school reopens and we will have some one-on-one sessions with children.

“We know that as you grieve, the kind of support should help to make the process a little bit easier. The lawlessness has reached a particular level where persons are turning guns on young persons such as four-year-olds. We are hoping that when these persons are caught and brought to justice they will be [made] an example to others so another child will not face such fate,” Nicholson said.

Rosemount Primary and Infant School Principal Malaicha Sinclair-Bailey shares memories on Monday of four-year-old Shannon Gordon and 39-year-old Iysha Washington, who were among five people killed in a mass shooting in Commodore, Linstead, St Catherine, Sunday night.Photo: Llewellyn Wynter