The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE family of 33-year-old Delano Miller believes he was an innocent bystander caught in a barrage of gunfire that tore through Bain Town on Independence Day, killing him and another man and wounding three women.

Miller and Fred Wildgoose, 24, were killed on Friday night in the Dumping Ground Corner area. Three women were injured in the shooting.

Larrie Miller Ferguson, Miller’s aunt, said her nephew had spent most of the day inside watching television and had only stepped out to get water when the gunfire erupted.

“He got caught in the crossfire. I think that's what happened because, based on what his aunt and them who lived there said, he was in the house most of the day watching TV,” she said.

“He had come out to get water, you know. There were guys who always stand out front, and he stopped to talk to them. Next thing we knew they passed by, and the gunfire went off. They thought it was a movie or something. The amount of gunfire that went on.”

Ms Ferguson said her brother, who lives in Bain Town, heard the shots before someone told him that Miller had been hit.

“He heard the shots, and then somebody came and gave him the information, and he called me,” she said.

By then, Miller had been taken to hospital. Relatives later arrived and waited for information about his condition.

“We came to the hospital later on and just waited,” Ms Ferguson said. “We had to be asking a number of questions before we got in and found out that he was pronounced dead.”

His killing struck the family only months after the death of his mother, deepening their grief.

Ms Ferguson described her nephew, who worked in construction, as quiet like his late mother and “kind of unassuming”.

She condemned the violence and said whatever dispute sparked the attack should have been resolved without bloodshed.

“Violence don't solve anything,” she said. “If there was a problem or whatever transpired, we could almost reason and talk it over. But violence don't solve any problems. You know, just complicates everything. So here it is now. Whoever did it, they're running. They're afraid. May even be sorry, but it's kind of late.”

The Bain Town bloodshed unfolded during a violent holiday weekend.

On Sunday, a 59-year-old man was found with severe lacerations and other upper-body injuries and was later pronounced dead.

Later that day, a 36-year-old man was fatally shot in the Armbrister Street area of Fox Hill.