WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — After losing her older son to violence few years ago, mother of six Janice Pillner is now struggling to come to terms with the violent death of his younger brother, her last remaining son.

The young man, 24-year-old Anthony Ferguson of Darling Street in Savanna-la-Mar, was allegedly killed by the police on Saturday night along East Street in the parish. Another man who goes by the name Shootie, a friend of Ferguson, was also killed during the incident.

“If he did have a little boy or girl that I could take care of but he did not leave with no foot. I have no one to look at to say that it is my son’s son or daughter. He is a young youth who doesn’t live any life. He just ready to blossom,” Pillner told Observer Online on Sunday afternoon.

“It is not to say that they wanted him for robbery, wounding or kill[ing] somebody because he is cleared [by the police],“ stated Pillner.

According to the distraught mother, Ferguson was a frequent target of the police. She also said she had no problem with the other man, who was always respectful to her.

A section of East Street in Savanna-la-Mar where the two men were killed.

One of Ferguson’s sisters, Vanessa Ferguson, told Observer Online that her brother would usually babysit her son whenever she worked late shifts. She said her brother would normally call her to check where she was, but on Saturday, she never received his usual call.

Vanessa said family members later heard explosions miles away and called Ferguson’s phone. He answered, saying he was okay and would soon be home.

“Then they started hearing more loud explosions,” relayed Vanessa, who alleged that an eyewitness — a nurse from the nearby Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital — told the family there was a dialogue between the men and the police before they were killed.

Vanessa was left distraught on Sunday after a popular social media outlet suggested that both men had been implicated in murder in the past. In the latest incident, Ferguson was alleged to have killed a popular jerk chicken vendor known as Errol “Jerky” McDonald.

However, Vanessa rejected this claim. She said her brother was arrested by the police but never charged. He was released after the family secured legal representation.

“He did question and answer [sessions]. I got [a] lawyer and the police said they don’t have anything on him and is call people are calling up his name,” shared Vanessa.

“Sir, police have been in on out of this yard locking up Anthony Ferguson multiple times about the same Jerky situation. Why upon being locked up, none of them once charged Anthony Ferguson for the murder of Jerky. So, if it is said that Anthony Ferguson was the man who killed Jerky, why not charge Anthony Ferguson and have him incarcerated in a jail cell for that murder,” reasoned Vanessa.

Observer Online was unable to obtain a response from the police.

For her part, Pillner revealed that her son was a witness to the murder of his older brother a few years ago. She noted that he had been receiving threats related to that case following the incident.

The family of the other deceased man — Shootie — refused to speak with Observer Online.

— Anthony Lewis.