The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net 

THE day before he was to have started a new job, 28-year-old Justin Davis was shot and killed on Sunday night on Ross Corner.

Yesterday, relatives mourned the loss of their “easy-going” loved one as they condemned the country’s increasing violence.

Former Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller also condemned this shooting and the two other murders that occurred over the weekend. Noting he knew Davis “all his life”, Mr Miller called for the government to do more to “stop this carnage”.

According to police, the incident happened shortly after 10pm. Two men were standing in front of a home on Ross Corner when the occupants of a white vehicle opened fire in their direction, hitting one of them before speeding away.

“The injured man was transported to hospital and a short time later was pronounced dead,” police said.

Davis’ sister, Narissa Eve, told The Tribune he was one of four children.

“He was my mother’s third child, her only boy,” the 34-year-old said of her younger brother. “We grew up through Taylor Street, which is the corner right next to Ross Corner. Everyone knows everyone.

“(Davis) was really good with his hands, able to fix anything. He worked on cars, electronics…He was very quiet, humble. He stayed to himself. He wasn’t one to go out like that.

“At some point, the senseless killing has to stop,” Ms Eve said.

“There has to be some regard for these persons’ loved one and some value (of) life. You just can’t go and take an innocent soul,” she continued through tears. “He had so much ahead of him.”

Mr Miller’s daughter, Leslia Miller-Brice, who is Davis’ first cousin, echoed Ms Eve’s comments. 

“It’s just tragic what’s happening in our country,” she said, describing Davis as humble, mannerly, and a peacemaker who was eager to start his new job at Bahamas Power and Light’s Clifton Pier plant yesterday.

“He called me on Thursday and told me he needed help getting his police record, which I got for him,” Mrs Miller-Brice said. “He came and picked it up from me on Saturday. Then he told me on Thursday he wanted to buy some work boots. So I said ‘no problem Just you come get the money from me.’ And he came and he picked that up on Saturday.

“He was so excited to start work this morning (Monday).”

Regarding his connection to Davis, Mr Miller told The Tribune: “I sort of grew them up from they were lil’ babies. Because my daughter Leslia used to live there with their grammy. Nice, easy-going fella.”

Mr Miller also condemned the violence taking place in the nation as he called for the government to do more to curb this disturbing trend.

“We got to bring back capital punishment,” he said.

Capital punishment is on the law books as a sentence for murder, however it has not been enforced in recent years. 

“The members of Parliament don’t want to deal with it. You get so many lawyers in there. Nobody wants to deal with it. In the meantime, we’re losing all our youngsters. Our young men are gone,” Mr Miller said. 

“It is a tragedy. A major tragedy,” he said of Davis’ death. “But how many of these young men are we going to lose like this? When is the government going to say ‘enough is enough?’ When is Parliament going to have the guts to do what is necessary to stop this carnage that goes on everyday?

“Two just got killed in the Family Islands this weekend. So he makes the third one. How many can we afford to lose as a country? That’s the question you gotta ask. That’s somebody brother, somebody nephew, someone son, someone cousin. It’s painful all around. That’s a human being (whose) life was just gutted out.”

A day before Davis was killed, on August 24, two men were shot and killed in the Family Islands –- one in Abaco and one in Eleuthera. Those two deaths brought the number of homicides that occurred last week up to five.

Davis’ murder marked the 61st for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.