(Jamaica Star) “Me talk to him. If you cyah hear you must feel.” These were the words of 39-year old Shodia Blair, the mother of Fabian Fuller, 18, one of the six men shot and killed during a police-military operation in Buzzrock, Effortville, Clarendon, last Saturday.
According to police reports, about 11:45 p.m., members of the security forces, acting on intelligence, were carrying out an operation when they came under heavy gunfire.
A gun battle ensued and when the shooting subsided, the six men were found dead. Three rifles and approximately 100 rounds were found. Two Jamaica Defence Force soldiers received minor injuries.
Two of the deceased, 24-year-old Zemmar Nelson, alias Terminator Boy, and 25-year-old Leon Rose, also known as Hitler, were on the parish’s most wanted list.
Blair told THE STAR that Fuller was her only child, and that she tried relentlessly to steer him down a productive path, but he had different plans.
“He was suppose to start work on Thursday as a security guard down by MoBay. I sent him to the security school in MoBay to put him on a different path and take him out of the surroundings,” she said. “But him go down there and I don’t know what happen between him and them and him come back because him stubborn and me nah pretty up nothing.” She said that their relationship was not the best as their personalities clashed.
“Me and him always have issues because of him stubbornness, sometimes a him grandmother him turn to. Sometimes if him want any little thing him come and say ‘Mommy, you cyah buy me this or that’, but that’s it,” said Blair.
The deceased are alleged to have been part of the Bushman gang that has been under the police radar. However, Blair said she is not aware of Fuller’s involvement in the gang.
WASN’T SHOCKED
“I see him move with everybody so I can’t tell if it is good or bad company. Him get along with one and all,” she said. “Growing up he was an OK child but since him mature now, I don’t really know. He was a brilliant child but him just nah hear. If you see the fire and say ‘Fabian, don’t go over that fire’, by you turn you back him in a the fire.”
Blair, though saddened, said that she wasn’t shocked when she received a call from a friend about her son’s demise.
“She told me to sit down because she has a picture but she don’t know how to send it,” she said. “I hear about the guys them that died from morning but I didn’t know so I told her it’s OK, send it, and I said it’s Fabian.”
She added, “I talk to him Fuller night and day. His father call and counsel him, his uncle the same. So what should I do?” Fuller’s grandmother, Sarah Shortridge, is having a hard time coping.
“Him was my favourite grandson, him was humble and nice to me but a just company me a tell you,” she said. “Me a keep the faith still. The Bible say you must stay strong and I’m holding on.”
One officer on the scene told THE STAR that he believes the community feels relieved as the gang’s headquarters was vanquished.
“I believe it is a relief to the community. You probably won’t hear them say it but I think so. These guys from time to time send for people’s daughters and because them a the don, people just comply,” he said. “These people here are menace to the society, they hold the community at ransom.”