Bloodshed continues despite the State of Emergency (SoE), as the teenage son of late Sea Lots gang leader Cedric “Burkie” Burke was among three youths killed when gunmen stormed a house in Penal yesterday.
Dead are Jordan Burke, 17, Ishmel Matthews, 22, both of Penal, and Roberto Carlos, 21, of San Fernando.
Burke, a Form Five student of St Benedict’s College in La Romaine, played football and was on injury leave from the team.
Reports state that around 2.56 am, Burke’s girlfriend was asleep in an upstairs bedroom of his mother’s two-storey concrete house when she was awakened by gunfire. On checking a downstairs bedroom, she found the three victims lying motionless on the floor with blood pooling around them. Several live rounds and spent 9mm shells were also seen.
When police arrived, they found Burke leaning against a bed base, Matthews lying nearby, and Carlos under a bed, partially covered with a sheet.
Last year, police searched the house and reportedly found an AR-15 rifle. Sources said Burke was questioned but his mother was later charged and remains before the court. Outside the apartment yesterday, friends lit candles near the doorway, where bloody footprints marked the floor. A relative said she received a call shortly after 3 am from Burke’s girlfriend asking her to come.
“When I came, the door was open, and I met him lying down there in a pool of blood with what I saw was a shot to his back. Then I noticed there was his friend, Ishmel, lying right there. I did not know there was a third friend. It was after somebody walked in and said, ‘Look, there is another man under the bed,’” she said.
The relative said Burke, his mother’s only child, often stayed with his grandmother nearby but visited the house to meet his girlfriend or when there were water issues at home. She said Burke and Matthews were close friends, while she had only recently met Carlos.
The three had reportedly gone out to buy food shortly before the attack and returned to the house. The relative said she could not understand why they were targeted or who the intended victim was.
Burke had celebrated his 17th birthday on March 18 with a cake made by his sister in Sea Lots. His relative described him as respectful and not a troublemaker, though she said she often cautioned him to be careful, particularly in his mother’s absence. She said he earned money by repairing phones and tried to help support his mother, who is currently incarcerated.
While he spent time between Penal and Sea Lots, relatives said there were no known issues involving him or his siblings. However, he had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing counterfeit money, which the relative said amounted to just over $100.
Speaking on the crime situation, the relative described it as “horrible”, suggesting Burke may have known the attacker, as there were no signs of forced entry. She said the family hopes the police bring justice.
“There are so many murders, and it is just like swept under the carpet, because they might think he was Burkie’s son, but it has nothing to do with it. It is not like he was in crime or anything like that,” she said.
Jordan’s father, Cedric, died of complications related to COVID-19 in 2020. He was the father of 17 by seven women, ten of whom are boys.
At Matthews’ home, relatives recalled the close bond shared by the three youths, describing them as “three musketeers” who were always together and often gathered at Burke’s home.
His aunt, Marinda Yearwood, said she received a call around 4 am informing her that Matthews had been shot. She later learnt he had died.
Yearwood said there are many rumours about what happened, but the family does not know who the intended target was. She said Matthews had not received any threats and had left home around 10 pm on Sunday.
“To me, it is unbelievable and ridiculous because they are youths. They never got a chance to live. Let us just assume they did something; I do not feel it warranted them going home. I would say that the lawlessness is beyond ridiculousness in this country, and we can’t say it on one side; we have to say it on both sides,” Yearwood said.
She described Matthews as a quiet and loving young man who did not cause trouble. He had left Shiva Boys’ Hindu College with nine CSEC subjects and was seeking steady employment, but struggled to find work, taking on short-term construction jobs after being repeatedly turned away.
Now, three families are left mourning, searching for answers in yet another killing that has shaken their community.
