Relatives: Slain 'Marcus Garvey' was wrong target

A 25-year-old labourer who was gunned down early on October 26 near his home in Tarodale might have been the wrong target.

Relatives who visited the Forensic Science Centre in St James on October 28 told Newsday that the shooters were heard saying afterward, "Oh s---. That's the wrong man boy!"

Marcus "Garvey" Pierre, of Stony Hill Avenue, Tarodale, was shot around 12.15 am on October 26.

Officers from the Marabella Police Station were on mobile patrol near the roundabout at South Park, San Fernando, when a man informed them about the shooting, which had occurred moments earlier.

The police found Pierre's body at the corner of Yallahas and Stony Hill Avenues in Tarodale.

A close relative, who wished to remain unnamed, believes the killing stemmed from a violent altercation involving one of Pierre's friends and others hours earlier.

The friend's chain had fallen, and Pierre picked it up, intending to return it.

The relative suspects that the same people returned to shoot the friend but mistakenly shot Pierre instead.

"Overall, he was never into trouble. People do not hand-fight anymore. If you watch a man too hard, you could get shot. Out here, you have to be careful about what you are doing and saying. You might say something off, and a man might not like it, and it could be the end of you. Nowhere is safe," the relative said.

"The crime situation is real dread. It is serious. He was a loving child. He was arrested for robbery and made a decision to turn his life around. He said the experience in jail made him realise he never wanted to go back to that life, and he turned it around. He had been on the straight and narrow for the past five or six years."

Police found 9 mm spent shells and a gold chain next to Pierre's body.

PCs Ventour and Deboulet of the Ste Madeleine police station, along with officers from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region III), also visited the scene and gathered evidence.

No arrests have been made.

WPC Mohammed is leading the investigation.

(With reporting by Gregory Mc Burnie)