A Trinidadian family is grappling with unfathomable grief and shock after 18-year-old Javon Hamilton was killed during an alleged home invasion last Thursday in Freeport. Javon’s father, Victor Hamilton, has broken his silence to share his family’s turmoil, extend an apology to the homeowner’s family, and push back against assumptions that his son had a history of criminal activity.
Victor Hamilton told reporters that Javon left the family’s Princes Town home on St Croix Road the afternoon of the incident, telling his parents he planned to stay at his girlfriend’s residence in nearby Indian Walk. Before he left, Hamilton recalled warning Javon against driving the car the family had given him and urging him to stay put at his girlfriend’s. Later that day, Hamilton tried to reach Javon to share news of an upcoming car show in Moruga, but got no response. When Javon failed to return home that night, the family grew increasingly alarmed.
Hamilton said he carried on to his job the next morning and kept attempting to contact his son, who worked full-time for a local catering company and had recently retaken his Mathematics and English Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams. It was only when an unknown person answered Javon’s phone that he received the devastating confirmation: “Pappy dead” — using the family nickname for Javon.
Disoriented and overcome with emotion, Hamilton and his wife Vicky Daniel began a frantic search for answers. They first checked Javon’s girlfriend’s home, then visited local mortuaries and the San Fernando Police Station. A family member posted a missing person notice on social media, and the volunteer Hunters Search and Rescue Team joined the effort to locate the teen. Days later, police called the couple back to the station to identify a body. Hamilton said he could not immediately recognize his son in the photograph police showed him, and left the station in denial before his wife and her brother identified Javon by a distinctive mole on his face.
According to official police accounts, the incident unfolded at approximately 6:50 p.m. on September 24, when four masked intruders forced their way into a residence on McLeod Trace. The home’s resident, a serving prison officer, heard noise from the intrusion, retrieved his service-issued pistol, and confronted the group. The officer told investigators one intruder — Javon, according to police — aimed what looked like a gun at him, prompting him to fire three shots. Javon was fatally hit, while the other three intruders managed to flee the scene.
In a surprising move, Victor Hamilton has extended a public apology to the prison officer and his family, noting that he has been told the homeowner is a distant relative of his own. “I am very sorry. Please don’t hold no grudge,” he said, adding that he plans to meet with the family in person to discuss the tragedy. Hamilton emphasized that Javon had never shown any signs of criminal behavior, and that the family had provided him with stability: he owned a car gifted by his father, and received a plot of land from his grandfather. “Pappy had everything here. We do not know why he got involved in this,” Hamilton said, adding that he suspects Javon may have been unwittingly caught up in the scheme, and has pledged to help police identify the three fugitive intruders.
Two of Javon’s cousins, Ayana Daniel and Aliyah Daniel — who have known Javon since birth — have urged the public to avoid rushing to judgment over the incident. “I believe that he got into a situation and this was the result. We will continue to trust God about this. He was a hard worker and Javon will be greatly missed,” Ayana said. Aliyah echoed the call for empathy: “Don’t pass judgment because it could be me today but it can be you tomorrow. Wish well for people and grieve with them. My cousin was supposed to grow old and we were not supposed to be grieving for him.”
A post-mortem examination to confirm Javon’s cause of death is scheduled to take place this week at the Forensic Science Centre in Federation Park, as police continue their investigation into the home invasion and the search for the three remaining suspects.