Shelmadine Sanchez, 35, a domestic of Oleander Street, was murdered just before midnight last night, Friday.
According to witnesses, she was leaving a friend’s house, approximately 50 paces away from her front door. She had just stepped over to her friend’s house close by, to have a drink. Witnesses say that she left her front door open (a sign that she wasn’t going to be away for long), and while walking back, a gunman shot her with a high-caliber weapon.
Sanchez’s family, who is still mourning the loss of a loved one who died just a few months ago, was shocked at the murder.
Amandala spoke with Sanchez’s niece.
“Right now information is very sketchy, because the information we have right now is what is coming in from witnesses off the streets. According to my sister, they heard the gunshots around 11:45 p.m. At about 12 o’clock, we got a call that it was my aunt who got shot.”
Sanchez’s niece went on to relate that, as they understand it, when she was walking back home from the friend’s house where she had gone to take a drink, a young man who is estimated to be a “young teenager”, about 15 years in age, “was waiting on her.” The young man was reportedly wearing a red shirt and opened fire on her with a powerful weapon that some claim was a machine gun. Sanchez, according to the niece, was reportedly hit by 5 of the 6 shots fired at her.
“The reasons why, as we heard, that this took place,” she said, “ was that my Aunt Shelly was a witness to a murder which happened right around here. She had been receiving death threats on her through phone calls, and she had decided that she would not be testifying in the murder trial”.
When asked what murder Sanchez witnessed, her relative said that she couldn’t remember the full name of the murder victim, but recalled him as being Nembhard, who she and other residents in the area knew as “Kalad”. We found out that the Nembhard she was referring to was Dennis Nembhard, who was murdered on June 2009, on Oleander Street. Nembhard was believed to have been killed with a single shotgun blast.
She said that her family is shocked that this murder happened. She also said that just three months ago, her uncle was charged for allegedly killing her grandfather, and they have still not come to terms with that tragedy as yet.
The grandfather that Sanchez’s niece was referring to is Clifton Grant, 80, whom we reported was allegedly beaten to death by his son, Glenford Grant, 26, reportedly for 25 cents, back in May 2010. Grant is currently remanded and awaiting trial at the Supreme Court.
Family and friends remember Sanchez as a very humble and easy-going woman who was kind and willing to help. She was an avid follower of the Open Doors Believer’s Chapel, and was like family to the members of the church.