The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter


lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

“When they kill Jonathan, they killed the whole family,” Gelita Gooding said yesterday, describing the devastation after her 36-year-old nephew, Jonathan “Goddy” Gooding, was gunned down last Thursday morning in the parking lot of the Shirley Street Shopping Plaza, just moments after leaving the gym he had faithfully attended for nearly four years.

Police reported that Gooding had exited a business establishment shortly after 9am and was walking toward his vehicle when a Japanese car pulled up. A man exited, produced a firearm, and opened fire before fleeing the scene. His body remained on the pavement opposite the gym — a stark, tragic sight for anyone who knew him.

For Ms Gooding, the anguish goes far beyond the circumstances of his death. Less than half a day before, Jonathan had been at her home laughing, collecting food, and speaking about life and fitness, with no hint of danger.

“Jonathan was one of my babies. He's my nephew. He's the son of my sister,” she said, recalling how she helped raise him while his mother, Loretta Gooding, was abroad for work. At the time of the shooting, his mother was at a doctor’s appointment overseas, unaware of the tragedy that had unfolded.

Ms Gooding described her nephew as respectful, family-oriented, and protective of those he loved.

“He was focused on his health. He wanted to live better,” she said, explaining that he avoided alcohol, smoking, and drugs, and dedicated himself to the gym not out of vanity but to maintain discipline over his body and mind. “That was his thing,” she added.

Jonathan had made deliberate choices about his personal life, telling his aunt: “I want my children with one woman, and that woman has to be my wife.”

Originally from Bimini, he travelled widely and spent several years in Cuba, where he became fluent in Spanish. He eventually achieved his goal of becoming a licensed boat captain, operating trips to Rose Island, an accomplishment that brought him immense pride.

“To handle him like that, they don’t know what they did,” Ms Gooding said, her voice heavy with emotion. “They don’t know how they took a decent young man out of this world. Whatever they feel he has done, they wrong. They are no God. How you can delete someone because you feel they should be deleted out? Then you gon shoot him from behind, your coward self. You shoot him from behind so many times you shoot him.”

The family’s grief was compounded by the circulation of graphic images and videos online shortly after his death. Ms Gooding said she struggled to understand the lack of empathy.

“I think that's the most heartless thing in the world,” she said. “How could you do something like that? I blame the authorities. How could you allow these people to be there, snapping and recording and stuff like that? What kind of heartless person want to stop and do things like that?”

Jonathan’s sister, Verline Smith, recalled the moment she learned of her brother’s death, saying: “I still stunned, like I don’t know what to do. My mommy, she crying, my auntie hollering, my cousins hollering, my brothers them hollering. I only could be there for my mom and be strong for the family.”

She described her brother as quiet, focused, and committed to keeping a small circle while avoiding trouble. He shared a close bond with her children, particularly her son, the only boy among them. She said the online footage was particularly painful.

“Why,” she said, “people posting these things? Like, why people do this to parents, children? Like, come on. The family don’t even know nothing, but y’all posting these things. It’s so sad.”

Ms Smith also admitted to feeling fear after recently burying the father of her children and now losing her brother.

“Knowing the tragedy that happened to him, it’s like any car come close to me, I’m scared,” she said. “Any dark tinted car come close, like I am afraid. I don’t know what to do.”

Kadayah Bain, who considered Jonathan a brother through their adopted mother, echoed the family’s grief, describing him as hardworking, cheerful, and not a problematic person. She initially learned of the shooting online but only realised it was Jonathan when her mother called in panic.