(Jamaica Gleaner) The Reverend Keaven Dixon’s last posting on Facebook, the popular social-networking portal, on July 21 was a portent of his own death five days later, even as he warned a friend to consider that he could die at any moment.
“Hey, guy! Have you ever stopped to think this could be your last day on Earth, and the beginning of eternity? Where would you spend it? Let us be wise. Time is short.”
Now, instead of preparing for a fund-raiser, the River-side New Testament Church in Hanover will have to plan a funeral for its pastor, who was shot and killed by a gunman at the Hopewell High School on Monday morning.
Dixon, 32, was gunned down as he stood talking on his cellular phone outside the school offices, where he went to collect his acceptance letter for a teaching position at the institution come September.
“We are very shocked and traumatised by the incident. While no school was in session, the daCosta football team was in training camp behind the school,” said principal Joyce Irving.
“We are very disheartened by the incident and our hearts go out to the relatives of Keaven Dixon.”
The Gleaner understands that the gunman went to the school compound and demanded to speak with the principal. He reportedly pointed the gun at the secretary, who released the buzzer-triggered security door, allowing him into the administrative office.
Principal raised alarm
The gunman then began to bang loudly on the door to the principal’s office, as she had locked herself inside. She raised an alarm, and the thug retreated into the schoolyard.
Further information is that during the gunman’s escape, he saw the pastor on his cellphone, and he shot Dixon in the upper body.
Dixon died while undergoing treatment at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, St James. Unconfirmed reports are that his killer escaped with a laptop and a cellphone.