A well-known preacher in the community, Oscar John Lambey, 28, of Rivero Street Extension, was found dead at about 6:20 this morning in the Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist compound, in the Cinderella Plaza area.

The death of the preacher occurred just 24 hours after Lionel Sampson, 28, was found dead at about 6:30 yesterday morning, Thursday, after being shot and killed while walking in the Iguana Street Extension area on Gravey Street in the Collet Division.

Sampson was the eleventh person murdered since deadly violence escalated, beginning June 7, 2014, when a 16-year-old girl was shot in the Princess Hotel and Casino parking lot. The bullet is still lodged in her chest.

Lambey was found by the caretaker of the church when he was making a routine security check this morning in and around the compound.

Inspector Santiago Ciau of Precinct 1 Police said that at about 7:00 this morning, they responded to the report of a dead man in the compound of the Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist Church on Wilson Street, and on their arrival, they saw the body of a man lying face-up on the ground about 10 feet behind one of the buildings on the compound.

According to police, there were three large stab wounds in his right upper back, and a stab wound in the left side of his chest, in the area of the heart. Police believe Lambey died shortly after midnight, around 12:30 a.m.

Ciau said that they suspect that robbery was the motive for the murder, since Lambey was found with the pockets of his pants turned inside out, indicating that he had been searched.

Lambey’s aunt, Bernadette Locario, told Amandala that her nephew was a Christian, and spent his time preaching about the Bible to people. He was not involved in gang activity or violence – the Bible was his life, she said. Lambey, she told us, went about preaching and went to any church, but he mostly attended the Central Assembly of God, the Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Church of God.

Locario was stupefied that he had been so brutally killed. She wants the killer or killers to tell her why they killed him, because he did not deserve the brutality.

Locario said that Lambey was at her house yesterday, Thursday, where he took a bath and afterwards she fed him. He told her that he was going to City Hall to get a document so that he could continue his preaching. He then left her house and that was the last time she saw him alive.

This morning, Locario said, she was at her home when her neighbor came and told her that Oscar had been killed. She then went to the morgue to see him.

Ayna Lambey Joseph, Lambey’s cousin, who was raised along with him by her mother, said that she is shocked, because Oscar was always preaching about the Bible to others, and that was his passion. She told Amandala that when she got a call that a dead man had been found in the Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist Church compound, and that he resembled Oscar, she rushed to the morgue to see him, but on her arrival, she was not allowed to see the body, because she was told that a police investigation was ongoing.

She was asked her relation to him, and other pertinent questions, which she answered, and she was informed that the autopsy would take place at 1:00 this afternoon, Friday. When the autopsy began, she was allowed into the room, and she identified Lambey, Joseph related.

Joseph said that Oscar loved his family, and spent a lot of time with them. Four of his family members live in the Rivero Street Extension area; his sister lives in the Fabers Road area; his cousin lives in Lords Bank, Ladyville, and he also has relatives who reside in Sandhill and in Orange Walk.

Joseph said that wherever Lambey went, Lambey preached to people, and they supported him with food and shelter for a few days, after which he would travel to the homes of other family members, and would preach in the localities of the relatives he visited, and they also supported him. He did not live in a fixed area, but instead constantly moved around to preach and spread the Word, she explained.

Lambey touched the lives of many people. Joseph said that after the news spread that he had been killed, a woman went weeping to her house, and told her that Oscar had been preaching to her regularly.

She and the family want to extend thanks and appreciation to the many individuals who have reached out to them to extend their sympathies.

One woman told Amandala that she saw Oscar yesterday evening and that he had told her that God loves her. She said that she was shocked when she heard that he had been stabbed to death. Also, taxi operators in the Cinderella Plaza area said that they saw him yesterday evening preaching in the area.

Police have begun their investigation into this, another senseless murder. Police have so far detained one man who they say may be able to assist them with the investigation.

Oscar John Lambey is survived by 7 aunts, including Bernadette Locario; his sister Gloria, several cousins; 3 uncles, and a host of friends. He also leaves behind the church communities of which he was a part, which he loved dearly, and those to whom he ministered.