The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A SINGLE mother was fatally shot in the Coconut Grove area on Friday night, a day after her uncle was killed at the same address.

A close relative has identified the deceased woman as 26-year-old Shavonna Adderley, a mother of a seven-year-old boy.

Her uncle was identified as Gladstone Francis, Jr. They were two of four people shot in two separate incidents outside the same home.

According to police reports, sometime around 8pm Friday, a group of people were gathered outside a home on First Street, the Grove when a small vehicle pulled up.

Police said three armed men got out of the vehicle and fired shots in the group’s direction, resulting in a man and woman being injured.

As a result, both were taken to hospital. However, the woman later died.

The victim’s mother, Yvonne Adderley, told The Tribune yesterday that she had left the neighbourhood about an hour before the shooting incident took place.

Mrs Adderley explained that she and her daughter were only visiting family members that day to give their condolences concerning the death of their uncle, Francis, Jr.

Francis, Jr, was killed in a similar fashion on Thursday night after gunmen discharged shots at him and his daughter outside the same home on First Street after 9pm.

Police said a light coloured mid-size vehicle pulled up to the residence and discharged a weapon at a man and woman. They were both taken to hospital by private vehicle however Francis Jr died; the woman was said to be in serious but stable condition.

It was the second murder to occur on Thursday and came hours after another couple had been shot on Peardale Road, leaving another man dead and a woman injured.

“That was my uncle who got killed that night,” Mrs Adderley said, describing Francis, Jr, as a nice man who stayed to himself. “His daughter is out (of hospital) now. All of us was there giving our condolences to the family, sitting down talking and hanging.

“We normally go there and hail my grammy and sit down and have family talk and whatever but when my uncle got shot, I went there like after 10 o’clock (that day).

“Everything was cool and fine so I went there the next morning (Friday) before we went to my baby daughter’s graduation and I told them we was coming back and so after the graduation, then we went there and all of us was there together,` but then I left them there because I had another little job to do. So I told (Vonna) ‘I’m going now, I’m going to leave and make sure when Shawn come, y’all go home’ which is her brother.”

Mrs Adderley said her daughter’s last words to her were, “Mummy, we going home soon.”

“An hour later, I got the call and they told me that someone shoot up the yard again and my daughter get shoot, the close relative said,” Mrs Adderley said. “That’s all they said to me and they rush her to the hospital. I never expected nothing like that.”

The mother-of-six described her daughter as a fun loving person, who was “the life of the party”.

“You would never have a dull moment with her. Vonna was like the life of the party. If you down, she would bring you up just with the smiles and the nice talking, hugging and kissing. That’s the type of person Vonna is. Very fun person,” said Mrs Adderley.

Shavonna also leaves behind a seven-year-old son, whose father was killed in 2019.

Mrs Adderley said her grandson does not understand that his mother is dead.

“He doesn’t understand,” she said. “He really don’t because we told him yesterday, me and his grandfather sit him down and we told him but he didn’t understand. His dad got killed two years ago also.”

Mrs Adderley said the ordeal has been a total nightmare for the family, who have not yet fully recovered from their uncle’s death.

“Two gone in two days. If you only know. Everybody is taking it hard… (Francis Jr’s mom) is not doing too well. She wasn’t doing well before this so it’s worse right now,” she said. “We most definitely want justice. We gone need that.”

Asked about the suspected motive of the incident, Mrs Adderley believes it was an act of retaliation for a shooting that occurred in March, when several women were shot at on Second Street, the Grove.

“From what I understand, (someone in the area) just got out of jail and I don’t know if you remember the shooting that happened a few months ago with the four girls in the car. Well, he was the one who (allegedly) do the shooting for that,” she said.

“He just come out of jail and that’s who they want so that’s what it is. So, they just don’t care, and I guess they saying because they can’t get him, they will get whoever close to him.”

Police said investigations into the country’s recent homicides are continuing.

Meanwhile, anyone with information is asked to call police at 502-9991/2 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS (8477).