Brother of Murder Victim Admits to Being Intended Target
On Monday we told you about the murder of eighteen year old Maud Williams’ student Ethan Thompson of Mahogany Heights Village early that morning. Two nights before, however, gunmen had targeted a vehicle belonging to his brother, Irvin Fitzgibbon. Today, Fitzgibbon told News Five he believes his brother’s death could have been prevented. Although he was behind bars the day it happened, he claims he has been requesting mediation between the two rivaling groups from police. Fitzgibbon is convinced his requests were intentionally ignored. Paul Lopez reports.
Voice of: Irvin Fitzgibbon, Brother of Murder Victim
“I gone up deh. I nuh into no problem with nobody, no police no nothing. From o come out ah jail 2019 I nuh think about duh nothing. I hold my head straight. When I reach dah Mahogany Heights, of course I wah deh round my friends deh. We dah nuh no gang or anything. Dah lone deh we heng out everyday together.”
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Fitzgibbon claims that before the gun violence began in the community, he sought mediation from the police when he learnt that his life was under threat.
Voice of: Irvin Fitzgibbon
“Before any shot buss, me dah the one deh weh always deh behind deh bally boss. I always deh behind deh bally. Boss, unu done sih weh the happen. Unu come to me and tell me people wah kill me, yet unu lone the ker me dah station. Unu neva guh harras deh bally and she ker deh guh lock deh down. Dah lone me, me me. Deh she deh get voice clip everything, man the tell deh nuh come back dah Manantee til Irvin Fitzgibbon dead, which is Javinchi.”
According to Fitzgibbons, his pleas fell on deaf ears. Violence escalated in Mahogany Heights on Saturday night when shots were fired at his vehicle.
Voice of: Irvin Fitzgibbon
“I deh dah yard the chill, we the drink up and thing. Deh bally ask mek ah borrow the vehicle fih guh buy. So, I just lend them the vehicle, cause dah suh we deal. Now, my lee bredda and my lee bway the een deh, nuh my bredda weh dead, my next bredda. When deh bally gone dah back suh, I hya the shots. I call and deh she, bway dah we deh just shoot afta. So I seh what alright then. When deh bally come dah casue police the chase deh bally, police pan cycle the chase deh bally. When my car park, he just fly pass then he come back and she dah curfew, this that that. Right away we start trip pan he. You nuh sih deh just open fire pan the vehicle? You nuh the worry bout shot the beat, you the worry bout curfew. You sih the difference right deh?”
Fitzgibbon says he approached the officer at the community station to following day to explain what transpired the night before. Later that day, Fitzgibbon says, he was detained.
Voice of: Irvin Fitzgibbon
“Deh detain me bout twelve, twelve thirty fih nothing at all. Then, when deh look the inspector come and she Fitzgibons deh done get instructions fih release you already, which is the Monday. Now, when deh hear my bredda dead, deh nuh wah let me guh again. Deh want a mediation dah city. So, deh transfer me from Hatieville to City fih wah mediation. I mek deh know like a man dah the mediation, when I mih wah talk unu neva want talk. Suh I nuh into no talking.”
Fitzgibbons, knowing his own history, admits to being the intended target. He regrets seeing his brother pay for his misdeeds. Thompson would have been the first of four brothers to graduate high school.
Paul Lopez
“Your younger brother Ethan, he is described as a humble, hard working youth. He was actually in high school. There is a view that suggests he paid for your sins.”
Voice of: Irvin Fitzgibbon
“I nuh wah seh no pan that right general. I nuh wah seh I dah wah saint or anything. I done the do thing eena the past. That dah weh I the try put down. From I come out, like weh I see, 2019, I nuh rise a gun pan nobody, thief nobody, nothing, nothing, general. This dah how police the deal with me. That dah weh mek I know something wrong. Caz, yo dah nuh no dunce father.”
On Tuesday, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams told us that police are actively seeking Thompson’s killers.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Police are in the area still, in search of those people whose names are being called as suspects. But, you would know that they may have fled the area to other parts of the country. So, we may have gotten whims to where they might have gone. So, we have also sent police in those areas to look for them.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
