A quiet residential neighborhood in Black Rock was shaken by a violent pre-dawn killing on Monday, when a 40-year-old local father was shot multiple times outside his family home, in a attack relatives believe was carried out for robbery. Local law enforcement confirmed that officers were dispatched to Belfield Road just after 5:10 a.m. following an emergency call about the shooting. When first responders arrived at the scene, they found the victim, identified by family as Deon Pilgrim, suffering from several gunshot wounds across his body. Despite quick arrival of authorities, Deon was pronounced dead at the site of the attack.
When journalists from Barbados TODAY arrived at the family property hours after the shooting, visible bloodstains still marked the concrete of the front verandah and the nearby muddy ground where Deon’s body was found. Grieving relatives had gathered inside the home, struggling to come to terms with the sudden, violent loss of their loved one.
Davidson Pilgrim, Deon’s uncle, spoke to reporters about the frantic moments after the shooting. He explained that he received an urgent early morning call from his mother and sister notifying him of the incident, and he reached the property by around 5 a.m. “His body was lying there by the verandah, no life,” Davidson recalled.
Deon shared the home with his mother, grandmother, and his only daughter. Both older women were inside the residence when the gunshots rang out. According to Davidson, Deon’s mother heard four shots ring out, with the final sound she caught being her son calling out for his grandmother.
Family members say several pieces of valuable gold jewelry that Deon was wearing are now missing, including two thick gold chains, a bangle, and multiple rings, leading them to conclude the attack was a targeted robbery that turned deadly. The shooting triggered such severe distress for Deon’s mother that her blood pressure spiked dangerously, and she was rushed to a local hospital for emergency medical care.
In remembrance of their nephew, Davidson described Deon as a gentle, hardworking man who built his livelihood selling food at a weekly Friday canteen. “Deon was a cool guy, no violence or nothing, he work for what he want… he’s a loving person. To my knowledge, you can’t say nothing bad about him,” Davidson shared.