THE family of a man who was killed in Belmont on July 3 say a picture on social media of him holding a gun paints the wrong image.

Levei Morgan-Gloud, 21, was attending a wake at Layan Hill, Upper St Francois Valley Road, when, at around 8.15 pm, residents heard a gunshot.

Upon checking, they found Morgan-Gloud lying on the ground in the front yard of the house.

After he died, a picture began circulating of him holding an automatic machine gun.

Speaking to the media at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, his family said that the picture did not reflect his life.

“What they are portraying him as he is not that. He is not no gunman. He was supposed to start a work next week as a loader on a truck.”

“If anybody know Levei, they will tell you he is a loving child. He always have a smile on his face. People used to call him a smiling Buddha. He will do anything for anybody.”

One male relative said Morgan-Gloud never owned a gun and just got caught up in the hype when he saw one.

“Levei don’t have no gun. Anybody could take a picture with a gun. Levei got caught up. He just see the gun and wanted to take a picture with it.”

Morgan-Gloud’s relatives admitted he had a difficult past but said he was making changes and trying to live a better life.

“Nobody is perfect and I never will say he was perfect but what they are portraying him as is not true. He was changing his life and was living in Cunupia. He just came to check his mother and they kill him.”

They blamed the gang members in the area for encouraging young men to live a life of crime.

“You don’t know the area we living in. It’s a set of kicks thing with them big men on (gang) thing. It real ridiculous to have them big men watching the youths get involved in things they don’t even know about. The (young men) just going with it and it’s unnecessary.”

Morgan-Gloud’s family said they are hard-working people and his death has been difficult for them to deal with.

“His mother is home sick right now and vomiting with high blood pressure. This is really hard to understand.”

Addressing his killers and the other people involved in gang violence in the community, one of his relatives shook his head and said, “I just wish them all the best on what they really about.”

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