GREGORY MCBURNIE

“A sign of the times.” This is how a relative of Darnell Pierre, one of the men killed in a drive-by shooting in St James on Wednesday night, described the incident.

Pierre, a CEPEP worker, was among a group of men liming along Jeffers Lane when a car pulled up, and its occupants started shooting.

Pierre, 28, and his childhood friend, Steffen Belgrave, 25, died while two other men were left wounded.

Newsday visited the community and spoke to relatives of both men, who asked to remain anonymous.

Pierre’s relatives described him as loving, helpful, happy and always joking.

A relative said she never expected Pierre to meet such an untimely death, as liming in the road was normal within the community.

She said the shootings have left the community distraught.

“That’s how we are in the neighbourhood. Everybody sits down outside. Since I was small, that’s how it was. These times are different, they just different.”

“This just mash up two families and mash up a whole community. This happening all over. It’s a sign of the times.”

The relative said she believes God will provide justice for his death.

“God will be the judge. God will deal with it.”

Relatives of both men lamented the crime situation.

One said, “It is just horrible. Babies will now have to grow up with a father, a mother has lost one of her children, siblings have to deal with losing their brother.”

“That is just how the country is today. It’s sad to see the country reach to this stage because innocent lives are being lost,” the relative added.

Police say Belgrave was known to them and had been arrested.

His family, however, said he did not deserve to die in this manner.

“How horrible could they have been to deserve this? That just wasn’t right. They definitely didn’t deserve this,” a relative said.

The double murders come after the country recorded eight murders in 24 hours between Sunday and Monday, pushing the murder toll for this week to ten.

On Sunday, Nester Sammy, aka Pappy, of Harding Place, Cocorite, was shot dead while seated in a car near Superpharm in Diego Martin on Sunday.

Sammy was arrested in connection with the April 15, 2018, murder of Shaquime Williams, whose body was found near Harding Place recreation ground.

Then, at around 10 pm on Sunday, Brandon Forde, 23, Chivon Clarke, 26, Brian Padmore, 27, and Kerron Moore, 31, were shot dead while liming at the corner of Smart Place and Belmont Circular Road, Belmont.

They were killed by five men who pulled alongside them in a dark-coloured SUV and opened fire.

Video footage of that incident showed the victims talking when the SUV stopped near them, and the driver and a backseat passenger began shooting.

The men attempted to run but eventually fell after being shot several times.

More men then exited the vehicle and shot the victims at point-blank range before one of the gunmen opened fire on the victims again with an automatic weapon.

On Monday afternoon, Brasso Seco residents Andrew Rose, 57, Lance Hill, 30, and 46-year-old T