Relatives say stand is not safe

Relatives of Lystra Hernandez-Patterson, who was killed in a drive-by shooting on George Street on New Year’s Eve, say no one is safe on the Blanchisseuse maxi stand. That was where Hernandez-Patterson, 53, became collateral damage in a gang war.

Speaking with the media yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, relatives told Newsday commuters have been complaining for years about the spot where the stand is located and said gang activity and gun violence is commonplace there. “We are not safe there,” said the relative “There is always shooting on that stand.

“We have been complaining about it for years since I was a little girl. But that is the only way we reach home on a daily basis. So we have no choice but to get maxis there on a daily basis. Because the buses can’t facilitate everybody.

“The thing about it is, we are getting big but our children are coming after us, and we have to travel with them. We only have one high school we have in Blanchisseusse. If children pass for another school and they have to get transport to go, is there self they have to go. We have to cater for that.”

She recounted an incident which she said happened three days before Christmas. She was on the stand when a man approached a taxi driver and began talking to him. “He walked straight up to the taxi driver and said: ‘You from north coast? Go from here and don’t let me see come back and see you here.’

Then he left and came back with a group of men.” A little more than a week later, Hernandez-Patterson was killed by a stray bullet as gunmen riddled a maxi taxi with bullets. Police reports say just before 3.50 pm on New Year’s Eve four gunmen in a Nissan Tiida drove past the maxi and opened fire, killing Hernandez-Patterson and wounding several others.

The gunmen ran into police lower on George Street moments after and got into a shoot-out with them. One of the gunmen was wounded in that exchange.

Although they managed to escape, the gunmen then drove into another blockade near Central Market. There, police killed two of them. Another escaped. Police are still on the hunt for that man.

Newsday was told Hernandez-Patterson went into the city to get goods for her business and planned to bring in the new year celebrating with relatives at her home. Newsday was told most of her family lived in the same village as her and were going to meet at her house to bring in the new year.

“We live walking distance from each other’s house. You will always see us close, you may see us separated, but we are always there for each other.”

A relative told Newsday she was about to meet Hernandez-Patterson in PoS to go back to the village when she heard the gunshots ring out. Moments after, she got a phone call saying Hernandez-Patterson had been shot.

“My niece called and said someone called and said her mommy got shot on the stand. I started to run. I panicked.” She said after going to the stand and realising that Hernandez-Patterson had been taken to hospital, she followed. She complained that doctors kept family members in the dark about Hernandez-Patterson’s condition. Then pictures of the shooting leaked on social media.

“We saw it on social media before the doctors got to tell us how she died.” Relatives described Hernandez-Patterson as a hard-working woman and devoted mother of three. She worked as a security officer, had her own business and also worked as a tour guide for people wishing to see turtles in the area. Newsday was told she was the eldest of six children. Newsday tried to speak to relatives of two of the dead gunmen, identified as Richard Thomas, and Joel Roberts, both of Sea Lots, but they refused to comment.