Woman Says Ex Who Killed Her Boyfriend Was Due in Court Wednesday

A murder happened in broad daylight in Ladyville on Saturday evening. It happened in the thick of traffic, as the occupants of one vehicle tried to escape the wrath of the driver in another vehicle. But they didn’t escape and when the pursuer caught up with his target, he acted with deadly precision, shooting one of the occupants before fleeing the scene on foot. Amber Dawson told reporters that she and her boyfriend, Damion Baptist were trying to escape her ex-boyfriend, Jamie Young, who is now wanted for murder. News Five’s Marion Ali visited Grace Bank to speak with Dawson, and to Burrell Boom Village, to speak with the mother of the victim. Here’s that report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

It unfolded quickly, sometime around five, on Saturday evening on the Philip Goldson Highway, where the driver of this red Honda Fusion tried to manoeuvre his way through heavy traffic while fleeing a gun-wielding attacker. But he could not make it through, and the gunman caught up with him and shot him through the passenger side of the car, causing him to swerve off the road and slam into this lamppost in front of the Ladyville R.C. School. Behind the steering wheel of the vehicle was thirty-year-old Damion Baptist, who was heading from Maxboro to his house in Burrell Boom. But when he came under attack, he decided to drive past the Burrell Boom cut-off and attempted to make a dash for the Ladyville Police Station a few miles away. But even the police were out of his reach.

 

A.C.P Hilberto Romero, Regional Commander, Eastern Division

“On Saturday, 16th day of March 2023, around 5:30 p.m., police responded to a shooting incident in Ladyville Village in front of the Ladyville R.C. School. Upon their arrival, police found a car with what appeared to be bullet holes. Information received [was] that a person received gunshot injuries and was taken to the KHMH for treatment.”

 

Baptist’s relatives say he died en route to the hospital. He had been shot in the head. Amber Dawson, who saw everything unfold from the passenger seat, told reporters that Baptist spent the day in Grace Bank Village where she lives, and that it was her ex-boyfriend who killed him.

Voice of: Amber Dawson, Girlfriend of Deceased

 “We spent the day here. It was my nephew birthday. Everything was going well. We left. We passed Mr. Young house. We stopped at my grandmother, spent five minutes. We never spent long at my grandmother, and we went. We were going to his house in Boom and after we passed Maxboro Junction, on that long stretch, it all became so crazy, hectic. Mr. Young was driving in the opposite direction towards us. He was at his home when we passed him, so he had to leave when I stopped at my grandmother’s house. [He] run us off the road, crank his gun at us, push his gun through the window, crank it, Mr. Baptist speed up. He was like, “we need to reach the police station.”

 

Dawson said that on three occasions that evening, Young tried to harm them on the highway.

 

Voice of: Amber Dawson

“When we passed the curb after Maxboro, he was coming in the opposite direction. He was literally driving into us. Mr. Baptist was driving, so he pulled on the side of the road and that’s when he cranked his gun at us and Mr. Baptist sped off. After that, it was around by Tubal we were stuck – traffic was there, so we pulled on the side again. And that’s when the first gunshot went off. Everything happened on the passenger side. So when we pull on the side, the first shot went off. It went at the bottom of the car window. That’s when Mr. Baptist told me to drop my seat and stay low. And then he kept on driving on the side of the road because traffic was hectic in Ladyville that day. And when we reached again by the RC school, the next bullet went off and the next thing I know we were driving into the lamppost. That’s when I looked over and I saw Mr. Baptist’s head down.”

 

Amber Dawson says that she had dated Jamie Young for thirteen years but broke up with him late last year. It was around the same time that she and Baptist became friends, she said, but they did not start to date until last month. And that was when they came under sustained attacks, to the point, that she had to take out a restraining order against Young.

 

Voice of: Amber Dawson

“Everywhere I go, that young man follows. Everywhere I go, he follows. Every time I pass his house, I bet I look in my mirror, he will be behind, good five, ten minutes afterwards.”

 

Marion Ali

“Why do you believe this was the case?”

 

Voice of: Amber Dawson

“We were in a relationship, we broke up and he couldn’t take it believe. He keeps coming around, following us, following me. Mr. Baptist was just with me that day. Our court deal would have been on Wednesday of this week.”

 

Baptist left the B.D.F. and was planning to buy a bus and apply for a route later this year. His mother, Shelmadine Baptist says his murder will be hard on his siblings and for his three children. She had just spoken with him moments before he was killed.

 

Voice of: Shelmadine Baptist, Mother of Deceased

“He called and he said he di come home. Ih say “Mommy ah deh pahn mi way home.” And I  [say] “Bwai, how far yoh deh?” He say, “I deh right by Maxboro, Mommy.” He say ih wa reach directly. I say “okay.” I hang up the phone and then he never call – never come. So I never did call back. I guess da right deh the incident happened because he tell me he mi deh da Maxboro. And then the young lady weh he mi deh with, she tell me that the young man start attack dehn from Maxboro.”

 

A.C.P Hilberto Romero who briefed the media on this matter, said that the police are now looking for  Jamie Young for questioning in connection with this murder.  Marion Ali for News Five.