An afternoon of violence that left two people dead in one small, closely-knit community, in Ocho Rios has angered people who are still mourning the loss of a community leader.
At the same time, people in the informal settlement of Carib Heights/ByPass Ocho Rios say they are happy to be rid of one of the men who was killed.
Dead are Antonio ‘Workie’ Bryan, 43- year-old shopkeeper and 28-year-old Kayson Walker, also known as ‘Bum Bum’, both of Carib Heights.
While residents and people in the wider community of Ocho Rios speak highly of Bryan, as a quiet, hard worker whose kindness knew no bounds, they pour scorn on Walker who killed Bryan and then was shot dead by police.
Walker has been in several scrapes with the law and had a hard reputation for violence. He has faced the courts on murder, wounding with intent and other crimes and was reportedly only recently out of jail.
(See The Times next week for a story on the man the community is happy to be rid of)
Residents say last Tuesday evening, June 6 was primed for fun as people in the densely settled community were “just chilling”, some playing dominoes, others playing bingo ahead of a party. Antonio ‘Workie’ Bryan, was standing close to his shop, “Workie One Stop” just two feet from the busy by pass road, with two friends, one of them Krisana Lynch. Walker was nearby too but with himself and some say he had a mean look on his face and had made some nasty comments about ‘Workie’.
FIRE CONSIDERED
But then, they say without warning, he attacked Workie first using a bottle to ram into the shopkeeper’s shoulder. That attacked made Ms Lynch’s three-year-old who was standing next to ‘Workie’ run off. Then Walker reportedly plunged a screw driver into Workie’s chest. Some reports say ‘Workie’ did not know he had been stabbed but after a time collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
Police from the Ocho Rios station, about 500 yards away, were called to the scene. By then, members of the community had gone after Walker and were threatening to deal with him. Walker locked himself in a house he shared with his mother and only sane voices that said a fire could destroy the whole place prevented his house being set alight
The details of how police came to shoot Walker dead are not clear but The Times was told that four police officers went to the house and pleaded with Walker to come out. He hurled curse words and threats at them and the community people who threw missiles at the house. After some time, police reportedly entered the house where Walker was armed with cutting implements. He was shot dead.
INDECOM is investigating.
People responded with beating of pot cover and shouts of joy when news spread that Walker had been killed.
Up to the time Walker was shot dead it was not known that “Workie” Bryan had died. People who went to the hospital with him said he had come down from the stretcher and appeared fine even when going to the operating theatre before he died.
Some reports say Walker had been seen soaking his screw driver in garlic and had been saying out loud he was going to get ‘Workie’ who had scolded him up to days earlier over a man he (Walker) had assaulted.
“All when him deh a jail a Workie send food fi him with him madda,” said Lynch who has taken the loss hard. Said another friend of Workie’s, “The community is devastated”.
Workie died leaving a 19-year-old daughter. His girl friend sat stone faced between two friends among many who gathered at his bar and shop last Friday exchanging memories about Workie.
Photo shows people sitting outside ‘Workie’s’ shop reflecting on his life
