Chapmans youth gunned down near home

In the wake of the shooting death of Elroy ‘Bully’ Blucher of Chapmans, his grieving mother says she is prepared to wait on God for justice.{{more}}

When SEARCHLIGHT visited Juanita Blucher at her Chapmans home on Sunday, October 25, she appeared helpless and was in no condition to recount the events of the previous 40 hours.

Instead, tears streamed down her face as relatives tried to console her.

Juanita was grieving the loss of her fifth child, 24-year-old Elroy, who had been gunned down just outside their home at about 7:45 p.m. on Friday, October 23, 2009. She only mustered the strength to speak to SEARCHLIGHT the following Wednesday in a telephone interview.

She recounted that Friday was a special day for Elroy and his friends, because it was the birthday of two of his colleagues. To celebrate the occasion, a birthday bash was staged as early as 6:00 that morning.

While enjoying the camaraderie, little did they know that a hit was out for a few members of the group. Like a movie, seven bullets sent the men scampering for safety when three gunmen crossed a nearby stream and opened fire on them at about 7:45 p.m.

When the dust settled, Elroy lay dead on the ground after being struck by a bullet to his left temple.

The grieving Juanita told SEARCHLIGHT she calls a spade a spade, and while having to correct her other sons when they went wrong, with Elroy, it was different because he was not one to get himself in trouble. She added that he had never had a brush with the law.

“He was not a violent person. So the question I am asking, why shoot him?” Juanita said. Reports claim persons overheard the shooters, while leaving the scene, saying that they had hit the wrong person.

Juanita said she was at a neighbour’s home when she heard the bullets echo near her home last Friday night.

“I was so frightened, I got diarrhea immediately,” Juanita sighed. She said she called the police at Georgetown but they arrived an hour later.

Looking at her deceased son at the Georgetown Hospital where he was taken, was “real devastating and real rough,” Juanita stated.

Reflecting that her son was killed right in front of her home, she said: “That is what I have to live with until God comes.

“We leave everything in the hands of God. I don’t believe in rendering evil for evil,” said Juanita, adding “we just have to try and cope with it”.

Elroy worked on the Grenadine island of Bequia and was expected to resume his job next month.

Three men were assisting the police at press time with their investigations.