Man shot and killed in Greiggs

Tasting the blood of your cousin as you give him Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), while he draws his last breath is something Esworth Johnson will remember until he dies.

Johnson’s cousin, Osborne “Vague-E” Haywood, 42, was shot and killed around 10:00 p.m. in Greiggs as he sought shelter at the village’s hard court when a shower of rain started.

The mason had been out drinking with a female friend for the entire day and was making his way home, intoxicated, when an assassin’s bullet struck him in the face. He died on the spot as Johnson tried to resuscitate him, while also trying to find out who had shot him.

Speaking to SEARCHLIGHT in Marfot Road, Greiggs on Sunday, Johnson used a unique way of describing the relationship he shared with his deceased cousin.

“… Ah me wife them shoot. Ah 40 years we together. Arwe live in the same bedroom. Arwe ah share the same bedroom and smoke the same cigarette. Arwe never bull (homosexual relationship), arwe never thief.

“Me first girlfriend- ah he give me she,” an emotional Johnson told SEARCHLIGHT.

He said Haywood was well liked in the community and would offer his skills as a mason free of cost, accepting only cigarettes or a “drink of rum”.

“That’s just he … man listen, it’s just like I lost my wife, is 40 years we together … first cousin, two brothers’ sons, my father and his father,” Johnson stressed, while also noting that he thinks Haywood may have been killed because of certain rumours.

“We don’t really know what transpired … I even give him CPR, I even taste blood in my mouth …,” Johnson revealed and added that it appeared as though Haywood was shot in the area of his nose with a small calibre weapon.

“I live in North America, so me see them things dey.”

Johnson also related that persons said they heard two gunshots.

He told SEARCHLIGHT that his cousin was supposed to work with him and several other guys that day but did not turn up for work, and instead decided to go drinking in Carriere with a female friend and returned to Greiggs intoxicated.

He said the person with whom Haywood was drinking should not have allowed him to walk home by himself as he was under the influence of alcohol.

“That is not a good friend,” he declared, adding that he has no idea why someone would kill Haywood and he now has to be careful as he may also be a target.

“Right now … I don’t like it because we still young … honestly, false accusation.

“Is like a controversy going on with Lauders and Lowmans for years, so is like me and you is brethren and you start hang with me and them guys from Lowmans will start watch you because you ah lime with a Greiggs man, so they will hurt you through that because they don’t like who you hang with,” Johnson related.

“So is a controversy before we born. So I don’t know if is that trigger off again…,” Johnson continued, while trying to make sense of what he considers to be a mystery.

Haywood had no children and Johnson said his cousin took his last breath while he held him in his arms trying to keep him warm.

A resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told SEARCHLIGHT that a few years ago, Haywood was involved in an altercation that sent him to the hospital.

The resident said the incident was not really Haywood’s fault, and someone had died after Haywood was attacked and hospitalized.

The resident said that some persons are entertaining the idea that Haywood’s homicide is in relation to that incident and revenge may have been the motive behind the shooting.

The police are investigating.