Relative of slain construction worker – 'What am I going to tell his son?'

In addition to dealing with the grief and pain of his murder, the relatives of construction worker Brandon Victor have the painful task of explaining his death to his three-year-old son.

Victor, 33, was plastering a wall at a house on Chelsea Road, off the Cascade Main Road, just after 1 pm on Friday when a Nissan Note drove up the driveway.

Three gunmen got out and shot Victor several times.

Victor tried to run away but collapsed nearby.

Other workers on the jobsite ran on seeing the gunmen.

Newsday visited on Friday afternoon as police and crime scene investigators collected spent shells and took photographs.

One worker, who asked not to be named, said he was still shaken, as he was working near Victor when the attack happened.

"When I see what was going on I ran out in my slippers, I didn't have any time to put on proper shoes. I ran down the road to that bridge you seeing there and jumped down into the ravine. Somewhere along the way I kick off my slippers and hid in the bush behind some buildings. I was really scared.

"By the time I came back down to the jobsite I saw the police were already there."

The worker said Victor was from Mon Repos, Morvant. He said he knew the family well and did not know Victor to be involved in any illegal activities, as his major focus was his toddler son.

He said Victor was looking forward to finishing work that afternoon, as he had to pick up some items at Pennywise for his son.

"If I know someone is involved in crime or are a troublemaker, I wouldn't encourage them to be on this jobsite, so as far as I know he was a good guy.

"I not feeling good at all, my whole insides feels like it's wrapped up. Now I have to go and face his family."

Victor's family arrived and consoled each other as they stood and waited for funeral home workers to remove his body.

Speaking with Newsday, Victor's father Nixon Edwards said he felt a pain in his stomach that morning and even considered going to the hospital because it was so bad.

He said Victor did not live with him, but they were in frequent contact, and he was deeply saddened by his death.

"He just come out here to make an honest dollar and look what came and happened.

"It's terrible. What else I can say? He came out here and died trying to make an honest dollar.

"Whole day I felt this pain and I didn't know what it was."

Edwards said he remembered his son as an avid football fan and dedicated father.

One female relative asked other relatives how she would explain Victor's murder to his son, and had to be consoled by other members of the family.

Another relative said he felt that Victor's killers were told where he was by someone close to him, given how easily they were able to find him.

"The way those guys drove up the driveway there, it's like they living there. That's how easy they seemed to move."

Newsday spoke to a resident who said Victor's murder left her shaken, noting the community was not a violent one.

"We are all rattled after this.

"It's not something we're used to. But that's what happens sometimes, how people may have workers in their property. You don't know what might happen."

On January 27, Nigel Dedier, 51 and Michael Evangelist, 31, were gunned down at a jobsite near the Blanchisseuse Recreation Grounds.

Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region I are continuing enquiries.