The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE daughter of a 71-year-old construction worker shot outside his Wilson Tract home said her family cannot understand why anyone would kill a man who spent his life working, raising six children and keeping to himself.

St Gerard Nord died in hospital on Friday, two days after a gunman opened fire as he sat inside his vehicle preparing to leave home.

His daughter, Lynda Nord Seide, said the news of the shooting was so overwhelming that “my soul literally just left my body”, particularly because she had spoken to her father the night before and found him laughing, joking and in good spirits.

Police said a purple vehicle pulled up near Nord’s home last Wednesday before a gunman got out, opened fire and fled.

Relatives said they were told Nord had been shot in the head. They said bystanders reported seeing a vehicle parked nearby with several men inside before the shooting.

Mrs Seide, who lives abroad, said she was at work when one of her sisters called her in tears.

She initially could not understand what her sister was saying before hearing: “Something happened to Dad.”

Her sister urged her to call their father’s girlfriend, who also broke down.

“I asked her ‘What happened?’ and she told me ‘he was shot’ and I promise you, I felt like everything just left my body. I felt like my soul literally just left my body and it’s just been a blur and a roller coaster of emotion for the past week,” she told The Tribune yesterday.

The killing came only months after Nord celebrated his 71st birthday in May.

Mrs Seide said she and her father were close and usually spoke twice a week.

The night before he was shot, she said they laughed and joked and spoke about a range of things.

“We talk about everything that night on the phone, and to only get phone call the next day saying that he was shot,” she said.

Mrs Seide said the family had been devastated by the loss of the man she described as their pillar.

Nord raised six children as a single father after their mother died when Mrs Seide was seven.

“So, it really was my father that you know that raised us and had to work and take care of us. A very hardworking man,” she said.

His niece and goddaughter, Tasha Oliver Milfrise, who also lives abroad, said she had seen him only two weeks earlier while visiting The Bahamas for her own father’s funeral.

“I just don’t understand. How can someone just take a 71-year-old life? I’m 46. He’s been in The Bahamas way before I was born,” she said.

Mrs Seide said the killing had left the family puzzled.

Relatives said Nord never told them he feared for his life. They said he had mentioned a conflict involving people he knew that began last year, but they did not know enough about it to explain what happened.

They insisted he was not someone who sought trouble.

“I keep asking myself questions over and over and I keep asking God like we need justice because my godfather never bothered anyone,” Mrs Milfrise said.

Nord, a construction worker with permanent residency in The Bahamas, had hoped to retire in Haiti, according to relatives.

They said he was immensely proud of his six children, all of whom now live abroad.

“He had great character. My father never had any issues with anyone. He just went to work and just lived his life. He never been a part of you know any any gang or any issues. My father is a very straightforward man,” Mrs Seide said.