The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net 

Relatives of two best friends gunned down at their Pinewood home yesterday described the horror of the attack which has devastated their families.

In interviews with The Tribune yesterday, Davaughnia Adderley, 19, and her mother Elizabeth Gordon, described how a game of dominoes on the porch turned into a horrific nightmare. 

The incident unfurled shortly before 11pm. According to police, a group of men were sitting in a yard on Maple Street, Pinewood Gardens, when they were approached by three armed man who opened fired in their direction, injuring two of them and a woman, who was inside the home, before running away. The two men were pronounced dead at the scene while the woman was taken to hospital and is in stable condition. 

The victims have been identified as 23-year-old Dion Adderley and his best friend Dimetrius Dormeus, 22. The woman victim, 20, was shot in both thighs. She is one of Adderley’s relatives. 

Adderley’s mother, Ms Gordon, described her son as an “amazing person”.

“He was innocent, and (they) just take his life just like it was like nothing,” she told The Tribune through tears.

“I just want know who kill my baby,” Ms Gordon said. “Just getting off from work, coming home, and sitting on the porch to enjoy the rest of the evening with his cousins. I would like to know who took my son’s life.”

His sister, Ms Adderley, said: “Dion was a very loving, kind person. Anything you needed he would give you.”

She added Adderley was the second child and only boy of her mother’s four children. She said Dormeus had lost both his mother and grandmother.

Ms Gordon added Dormeus had been living between their home and his grandaunt’s for the last year.

Neither young man had children, and both worked at different Super Value locations, according to Ms Adderley. She said her brother was the dairy manager at the Market Street location.

Dion Adderley had just come home from work when the incident occurred shortly after 11pm.

Ms Adderley said Dormeus and three of her cousins had been playing games since about 8pm. This was only their third game night.

Describing the moments that led to the shooting, Ms Adderley said a car pulled up and the gunmen emerged and began shooting from behind the neighbouring fence. She said one gunman eventually hopped the fence.

She added seven people were in her home at the time.

“My cousins was playing dominoes,” Ms Adderley said. “When (my brother) came from work, he walked inside, hailed everyone, and gone back outside and sit down. Two minutes after, the shots just took place.

“After like 10 shots get ring off outside, (one) gunman came inside and he start shooting. But where he noticed everyone run in the room, he run back outside.

“He like shoot to the roof, he shoot over there, and he shoot down in the hallway,” Ms Adderley said, pointing to the bullet holes scarring the family’s home.

Ms Adderley was inside the house at the time of the incident. As the shots fired, she ran.

“When he came, everyone just run,” she said. “Some run to the road, and then some made it into the room.

“When I looked back, I saw this person dressed in all black. And something tell me continue running. And when I run, Mitri (Dimetrius), he end up coming behind me. And he was like ‘open the door’. And when I open the door he fall on the floor. I get the towel to help him and he died right there on the floor.”

Ms Adderley said she was very scared and described the incident as tragic.

However, she was adamant her brother was not the target - insisting the gunmen were looking for someone who was not there.

When asked if an automatic weapon was used, Ms Adderley said yes.

“This person came to kill, to walk into my family’s home,” she added.

She also said there was previous shooting incident at her home, but is unsure if the matters are related. No one was injured in the previous shooting, she said.

Ms Adderley described her brother as a lover and performer of music, who enjoyed both rap and love songs.

“He had books on top of books full of songs he wrote,” she continued. “Every time you see him, you hear his car, music. Whether it’s an instrumental, he just sitting in his car free styling or something.”

Of the tragedy, Ms Gordon said: “It’s a loss and ain’ like you could ask a question and someone could come right back and give you an answer. And like anybody who you speak with in regards to him will tell you a loving person, very mannerly person, and a hard worker.

“Amazing person and an excellent, mannerly person. He don’t care who you is, and as simple as a dog - respect is owed to a dog and he’ll give the dog that respect. That’s how my baby was. He was innocent, and just take his life just like it was like nothing.”

When asked if her son was ever involved in any trouble with the law, she replied:

“No ma’am. He had one incident before and that was something that he bypassed that and he was able to just move on. He just moved on after that.”

Area MP Reuben Rahming was in the neighbourhood when The Tribune visited Maple Street yesterday. He said the quiet area is in shock from the shooting. 

“Maple Street is a very, very quiet street,” the area MP said. “A very, very quiet street. The good thing with a quiet street is people see when there is a change in the neighbourhood dynamics.

“This is traumatising even from the kids who found it hard to sleep last night and senior people who had to duck on the floor and give stories of the sounds of high powered weapons going off here in Maple Street,” he added.

“The persons here are just very, very shocked, very, very surprised….now we have a whole family in pain, uncles and cousins in shock, young men dead and somebody injured by gunshot.”

Regarding whether an automatic weapon was used, Mr Rahming said: “So I’ve been told, and high powered rounds. And looking at the wall, the concrete pillar that was hit and to see the level of penetration into concrete, I could tell you that it was a high powered weapon.”

Mr Rahming also expressed concern about derelict buildings in the area, which he feared could “provide haven” for criminal activities. He also called for people to be wary of the friendships they maintain.

Mr Rahming also underscored his concern about industrial activities occurring in the residential community, noting there are propane trucks in the area.

“Could you imagine the danger if those gas trucks which parked in Pinewood which were suppose to evicted were to be hit just by an event like this?” he said.

Monday’s tragedy marked the 56th and 57th murders for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.