KINGSTON, Jamaica — Grief-stricken relatives of a 34-year-old man with a documented history of mental illness are pressing authorities to launch an expedited, transparent investigation into his death earlier this week. Ricardo Gayle, a resident of the August Town neighborhood in St Andrew, was killed by a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldier during an alleged confrontation at a Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) checkpoint early Monday.
Initial official accounts place the altercation shortly after 3 a.m. at the security checkpoint. Immediately after the shooting, first responders rushed Gayle to the University Hospital of the West Indies, where medical staff pronounced him dead.
A visibly distraught female cousin of the deceased, speaking to local outlet Observer Online at the incident site, pushed back against framing Gayle as an armed threat. “They shouldn’t kill my cousin suh, he wasn’t a gunman,” she said. “He’s not a gunman and a three gunshot dem give him… we need justice, he was a sick man!”
Melissa Bennett, Gayle’s mother, was overcome with sorrow at the scene, collapsing in tears at multiple points and requiring comfort from other family members. When asked to speak about her son, she could barely muster a statement: “My son [was] mentally-ill. I am just lost for words right now.”
According to Bennett, her son suffered three gunshot wounds: one to the chest and two to his back. Beyond his mental health condition, Bennett and other relatives emphasized that Gayle was no stranger to local law enforcement and security personnel, who regularly turned to him for help repairing their mobile phones. They called the killing entirely unnecessary, given Gayle’s long-documented reputation in the community and non-violent nature.
“My son was a very brilliant individual… he does not like violence… he was a genius in the technology world, him fix phone for all the police dem,” Bennett said.