The Tribune

POLICE are questioning a man in connection with last week’s double shooting, which led to the death of eight-year-old Eugene Woodside Jr and a man in his twenties.

Chief Superintendent Solomon Cash, attached to the Central Detective Unit, confirmed this yesterday, adding the man had been brought to CDU last Thursday to assist with the investigation.

Still grappling with the tragic ending of the boy’s life, loved ones and friends gathered in a celebration of Eugene’s time on earth yesterday, describing him as a “gem”.

In a service at the Holy Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church on Fire Trail Road, worship leader Natasha Bosfield said it was with “mixed feelings” that members gathered.

As the service continued, Eugene’s pregnant mother Kendera Woodside was slumped over in her seat weeping for her son, a large photograph of the third grader just several feet away from where she was sitting.

“The Woodside family is carrying a heavy cross today but He said my grace is sufficient,” Mrs Bosfield told parishioners during the service.

“When I tell you I know all your hurt and your pain today, God can make it right if you surrender.”

Mrs Bosfield later offered words of comfort to relatives, saying, “We are here for you. Purpose will come of this.”

And when the church paused to pray, they asked for God to keep Eugene’s parents in “perfect peace” and strengthen them at this time.

Eugene, who was studying his spelling words when he was shot in the chest by a stray bullet which entered his home last Monday, died in hospital a short time later.

The second victim, Dennis Moss, also died in hospital. Police believe he was the gunman’s intended target.

The killings came more than a month after an eight-month-old boy was killed in his Bain and Grants Town home. His mother and father were also shot during that attack, but survived the incident.