More headaches again for Violet Jones; daughter and nephew shot in her home
Violence has once again visited Violet Jones of Holy Emmanuel Street; her daughter, Losandri Gonzalez, 25, and her nephew, Wasani Fernandez, 23, were shot while sleeping in her house on Holy Emmanuel Street at about 3:00 yesterday morning.
The victims told police that a gunman pushed his hand through a louvered window and fired at them as they slept. As a result, Lasandri suffered gunshot injuries to her right arm, while Wasani suffered three gunshot wounds to his hand, right upper leg and knee. The bullet broke some bones in his hand, and surgery will be performed on Wednesday on the leg.
Losandri was treated and released today.
Police say that they recovered (3) .22 expended shells from the scene.
Jones, 42, who lives a few lots away from her home, in a house belonging to one of her nephews, said that she has no hate in her heart, nor will she seek revenge. She said that she will return home to Dangriga and will give up her property in the Holy Emmanuel Street area of the city, where she has been residing for the past 17 years.
She said that the city has not been kind to her and her family. Two years ago her son, Desmond Gonzalez, was shot in his arm on Holy Emmanuel Street by a man who exited a car and fired at him. His assailant escaped into the area.
Luckily, Desmond survived the murderous gunshots. The shooting of Desmond came shortly after his brother, her eldest son, Police Constable Matthew Gonzalez, who was attached to the San Pedro Police, was reported missing, believed to be dead, and to date, nothing has been confirmed, and police cannot say if the bones found in southern San Pedro in March of this year, are the bones of her son.
Jones said on top of these trials, her daughter and nephew were shot in their house. She said that she is a cardiac patient, and suffers from a heart condition. The pressure is unbearable and sometimes she would cry, she said.
Violet Jones said that she was in her bed about 3: 00 Sunday morning when she heard an explosion of five gunshots, which shattered the peace of the early Sunday morning. She said that she immediately jumped out of her bed and began to pray and asked God that the victims not be her children, and if they were, not to let them die.
She said shortly after that her phone rang and her daughter told her that she had been shot in her arm, but Wasani has been shot three times.
Police also called her and informed her that her daughter had been shot.
Jones said that at the time of the shooting, five children were in the house. She later went to the house and saw her grandchildren and nephews, but they were alright. She said, though, that the room was bloody. She said that when she got the message that her daughter had been shot, she could not react immediately, and waited until daylight before going to the KHMH, and that was when she saw her nephew, who was in a lot of pain.
Jones said that on Friday, she had gotten a message from her daughter that a neighbor had threatened her, but she had not paid attention to it, and told her daughter to go back to Dangriga immediately.
Her daughter refused, telling her that she wanted her, Violet, to go with her, and that she was going on Sunday instead.
Jones said that she was disappointed that her daughter refused, adding that she did not know what exactly caused the misunderstanding, but on Saturday, there was an altercation between her daughter and her neighbors, and police were called in, and then on Sunday morning, the shooting occurred.
At press time tonight, no one has been arrested for the shooting of Gonzalez and Fernandez, and police are still not sure about the motive for the shooting.
Jones believed that a part of the problem is access to her property. Her neighbor had fenced their yard, denying them access, and they had threatened her common-law husband that they would stab him if he passed through their yard again.
She said that she has been trying to get a road built in the area to access her yard without passing through the neighbor’s yard.