Van driver shot and killed

Andy “Fox” Garrick, the 45-year-old chauffeur who was shot and killed in Ottley Hall last week Thursday, May 11, has been described as a quiet individual who kept mostly to himself.

Reports are that Garrick was shot in the chest around 11 p.m. in Ottley Hall, while he was making his way home. He was rushed to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), where he later died.

Veronica Brudy, an Edinboro resident, who said that she raised Garrick from the tender age of three, is saddened by the murder.

“When people get killed, I does say to myself that everybody coming on the television and say their child was good and he never use to trouble people; but I know for sure that Andy was a quiet boy; he was not the type to trouble people,” said Brudy.

The elderly woman said that the news of his death hit her hard, but there is nothing that the family can do but pray.

“We just have to take this quiet, we can’t fight anything… there is nothing you can do other than take the matter to God; we can’t do nothing else. I don’t know what would cause someone to do that, because he don’t trouble people,” commented Brudy, who revealed that persons in the area have a theory as to why he was killed, but no one knows for sure.

“With Andy, when he was small, he was a person if you put him sit down, he would sit there whole day and not even cry for hungry. You have to know when he hungry to give him something to eat,” Brudy revealed of the man who has gone down in history as the 10th murder victim in 2017.

She added, “he don’t talk much and he don’t much up people, but he is a person if you hit him… if you curse him and tell him anything, that don’t concern him, but don’t put your hand on him… that is the person he was, very, very quiet and nice to everybody”.

Brudy said that Garrick, a father of one, lived in Canada for a while, after which he returned to St Vincent and bought a minivan.

Garrick’s mother, who told SEARCHLIGHT not to use her name or photo, said that she is extremely distraught over the death of her son.

Standing outside the mortuary at the MCMH on Monday, the deceased man’s mother said that it is not easy when one gets a call saying that your son is dead.

“I don’t know him as a violent person and everybody give him good name; he make his jokes and he go,” said Garrick’s mom, revealing that he was her first child.

The angry woman said that in her opinion, the crime situation in the country is out of control and while justice might never come, she would like justice for her son.

“I just leave everything in the hands of God. God knows who kill him; he see. I can’t say anything much, all I can do is put my faith in God and my trust in the Lord, because he will see me through,” said Garrick’s mother.

She said that Garrick would have celebrated his 45th birthday in December.

“…he ain’t deserve to die like that, you know, just shoot you down like that? It’s terrible,” she stressed.

Another family member, who also did not want to be identified, said that the Government should consider hanging persons found guilty of murder.

“They should bring back in the hanging. The crime rate is very high and the Government should look into it and do something about it. I think the hanging will cool them down,” said the angry woman.

She said that Garrick was a nice person, despite some of the “nasty comments” persons were passing on social media.

“He don’t trouble nobody. I heard people were passing dirty comments, but he was not a bad person… he was just cool. He don’t talk much and he don’t interfere people. He would not talk about things; he would just keep it to himself,” said the relative.

Police are investigating the murder, which is the second in the Ottley Hall Community for 2017. On Wednesday, April 12, Shemeal Bowens, a 34-year-old woman of that community, was gunned down by unknown assailants.

According to reports, Bowens was sitting at the side of the road, when she was shot multiple times about her body, including in her head and neck. Bowens was the seventh person killed in 2017. Her murder was unsolved up to press time.

The Ottley Hall area, over the years, has become a hotbed for crime. In response, the police, a few months ago, placed a 24-hour police presence in the area, but this has not solved the problem.

One caller on a popular radio station said on Monday morning that known gang members in the area are sometimes seen brandishing weapons and in one instance she witnessed a man riding in a minivan with a gun on his lap.