The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE grandfather of a young woman who died after she was repeatedly shot during a car chase says his family “might be bowed down in grief – but we are not overcome by it.”

Felix Bethel is the grandfather of 21-year-old Morgan Wells, who became the country’s latest murder victim on Monday afternoon.

Mr Bethel said he remembers his granddaughter, whom he affectionately called “Mugs”, as a vivacious young lady who was born in the middle of a drug and gun “storm” in the country.

Ms Wells’ death came as a result of a car chase that led to a deadly shooting.

Mr Bethel told The Tribune: “Mugs was full of life. She was vivacious, she was a number of things you couldn’t even say, rebellious, a lot of things.

“But in all of those regards, she was by-and-large typical of a certain section of her peer group and there are lots about her that would be better known by her peers than by either parents or grandparents.”

Context is important, Mr Bethel said. Ms Wells was born at the beginning of the 1990s.

“Which means that she was born in the middle of a huge storm in this country as it relates to guns and drugs and the disruption to family life that they caused,” he said.

“And in that regard, Morgan’s social circumstances would have been very, very similar to that of a broad cross-section of the Bahamian people, no doubt about that.

“My point of view is this, if you’re caught up in a storm, some of the strongest towers, fall; and this country at large has not been able to cope with the challenges to its economy, to society, and obviously it has failed very many of its young people.”

Mr Bethel said the family is coping “as best as all human beings cope, in times of tragedy” and accepts that there is “a time for everything.”

“We might be bowed down in grief but we are not overcome by it,” he said.

Mr Bethel said he was concerned for all the families involved in the circumstances surrounding his granddaughter’s death.

“I am quite concerned not only about my family that has been victimised but also my prayers go out to the person or persons involved and hope that they can find their way back to decency and civility,” he said.

“Let it be known that Christianity discovered me in Toronto when I was 35 and ever since, I’ve been struggling to understand the depths of the faith what call on us to love the neighbour and to deal carefully and respectfully with the stranger.

“The criminal is a stranger, and in very many ways he’s estranged from the rest of us, but he has to be embraced – not congratulated, embraced, prayed for, so that he may repent and abandon his ways.

“I believe that and so my prayers are not only for the loss with my family or for the distress caused my own mother – Morgan’s great grandmother – but for every mother in this country, whatever side of this terrifying war their children happen to be on because the fact remains whether you are on one side or the other, you can be hit in the crossfire.”

The shooting involving Ms Wells happened around 2:30pm at Pinecrest Drive and Poinciana Avenue in Southern Dreams Estates.

Reports say Ms Wells and another man were inside a black Honda Accord when a heavily-tinted silver Honda Civic pursued them and fired gunshots, resulting in both of them being injured.

The Tribune understands after the silver Honda fled the scene, the driver of the black Honda was able to drive to the Southern Shores police station, despite suffering from a gunshot wound in his upper back.

EMS personnel were called for the two, but Ms Wells died of her injuries on arrival at hospital. The driver remains in critical condition.