Mother of 3 in quandary after babyfather, friend murdered

As she gazed into the distance at the home in which Michael ‘Mikey’ Graham once lived, Shantal Thomas was at a loss as to how she would carry on in caring for her three children, two of whom were fathered by him.

Speaking with The Gleaner on Friday, Thomas recounted the events leading up to the murder of her children’s father, who was shot outside his home on Tuesday night in Riverton City, St Andrew.

Graham was at home with his friend, Omar Bartley, who had stooped by to watch television after work. Both men were labourers at the nearby Riverton City landfill and also engaged in the sale of plastic and glass bottles.

But the still night was disrupted by the sounds of gunfire at approximately 11:10 when unknown assailants invaded Graham’s home and accosted both men for reasons Thomas said she was not aware of.

Senior Superintendent Kirk Ricketts, commanding officer for the St Andrew South Police Division, informed The Gleaner that the men, who were reportedly armed with handguns, forcibly removed Graham and Bartley from the home and took them to the entrance of the premises where they were shot multiple times, suffering bullet wounds to the chest.

“No motive as yet; however, the incident has been attributed to gang violence,” said Ricketts.

He added that a police-military team has since been maintaining a presence in the community as investigations continue.

Graham’s 11-year-old son, who was at home at the time of the murders, has been mentally scarred by the murders, his mother said.

“Him traumatised,” she continued, adding that she has had to move him from out of the community and that she will be seeking counselling for him.

Thomas further explained that although she was no longer in a relationship with Graham, over their more than 12-year acquaintance, she did not know of him being a troublemaker, adding that he would always keep to himself.

She told The Gleaner that there had been previous instances of burglary at the home, where crooks stole copper he had collected at the dump with the intention to sell.

“Him is a hard-working man. Him always deh deh for him children dem. No matter how small it is, him a plan [for the future],” she said.

Thomas recalled how before the current academic year began in September, she had challenges finding a school to place the children closer to her home. As a result, the boys – the 11-year-old and his six-year-old brother – went to live with their father to attend a nearby school.

“The two a dem get book list and the book list weh di man get fi di two a dem, the man fulfil the whole a di book list. Every one a dem (books) in deh,” she said.

“Mi even come to him and a say, ‘Idiot man, weh mek you buy the whole a dem and dem nuh ready fi use the book dem [yet]?’ and him a say, ‘Lef me alone. A mi pickney dem. I rather dem done mi money’,” she said of her encounters with him.

Thomas said she appreciated that Graham would even care for her 14-year-old daughter, who was not his child.

“My daughter have respect fi him. Anything she want, she get it ... and when mi tell her say Mikey dead, she bawl,” she said.

“Mi nah figet this, him might gone, but mi nah figet dis ... . It bleed mi heart, I swear,” she lamented.

Residents of Riverton City on Friday remembered Graham as a jovial individual, who loved the children within the community.

One resident said the murders came as a shock.

“Right now, the whole community surprised because we nuh know where it a stem from,” one resident said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com