Rohan Louison (left) and his mother, Natalie Edward
(SNO) — On Friday, August 31, 2018 Rohan Greg Louison’s mother bought him the pair of shoes he had really wanted.
Having already showed off his new shoes to his neighbours over the weekend, the plan was to do the same, with his schoolmates at Vide Boutielle Secondary, when the new school term opens on Monday, Sept. 3. He was preparing to enter form two.
But those plans never materialised.
Louison was fatally shot near his home in Desrameaux, Gros Islet on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 1). His close cousin, 19-year-old Callis Benjamin, was also killed as a result of that shooting.
Natalie Edward told MBC her son had also received another piece of good news prior to his death: that his father had bought him a second bicycle. His relatives broke that news to him just after he returned from church.
The mother said she bought the special shoes for her son the day before he was killed and as a result was “excited” about going to school on Monday.
“I end up buying the shoes on Friday for him, so Saturday morning when he woke up… he went to all the houses, I think in the yard, showing people his shoes. He was so excited so then when he came back Saturday morning he tell me ‘mommy, I can’t wait for Monday ….,” the mother said.
The shoes bought for Rohan Louison
Edward said she is not sure why her son was targeted and shot.
“What I understood, I don’t know how true it is, I understood – because the other one who got killed is my nephew – I understand there was an exchange of words and bullets started firing and my nephew ran. They shot him and then when they came back they tell me my son was there looking at the people and they ask him ‘why are you watching me?’ I don’t know if he answered or something so, and they say one person that was at the front send the gun at the back for a younger one and ask him to shoot him. I don’t know how true it is.”
After hearing the news of the shooting, the shocked mother rushed to the scene.
“When I arrived in the gap, I just saw [a] crowd of people, lots of people there, and I saw my son lying down in a pool of blood, his slipper on, and people trying to administer CPR on him, so when I turn I watch, I touch his pulse, his wrist, I saw he had no pulse so I realised he was dead,” she said.
Louison would have celebrated his 14th birthday on Sept. 19. He was a member of the Gros Islet Athletics Club, which paid tribute to him on Facebook on the day of the shooting.
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