THE mother of 17-year-old Jahleel McDonald has dismissed suggestions that her son was shot dead in Lionel Town, Clarendon, last Thursday, in revenge for an altercation in the community a day earlier.
McDonald and his friend, Hasiena Smith, 20, were sitting at premises on Chestnut Lane in the community when gunmen crept and shot them. Both were pronounced dead at hospital.
McDonald’s mother, Primrose Johnson, told the Jamaica Observer in an interview yesterday that her son was innocent and that he was not a part of the altercation that took place the day before the shooting.
Sources in the community alleged that the argument the day earlier started after a member of the community was injured in a motorcycle accident, after which the motorcyclist was allegedly beaten.
According to Johnson, her son was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“The reason why him go over there is just to use the Wi-Fi (Internet). Every night he goes over there to use it, and that’s the reason why he was over there [at the time of the shooting],” Johnson said.
“He is innocent; the night of the altercation he was inside with me. He is so quiet and humble, you can ask about him,” she added.
Residents of the community yesterday declined to speak about the shooting.