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After spending most of her life not having a relationship with her father, 43-year-old Ann Marie Kelly was delighted when he moved to the community of Bounty Hall in Trelawny two years ago to live with her. But that bond did not last long. On August 27, her father, 71-year-old Lawrence Kelly, was shot and killed in the community. His killing has left her devastated.

"Mi just finally start to ask mi father questions, why him never there fi mi as the one daughter, and he would just always hold down his head. I could see that he was always bottling it up, and get emotional, so I just left it there," she said.

Kelly said she was in her her cookshop the evening her father was killed.

"Is a little girl come a seh to mi, 'Yuh know mi see yuh father dung deh suh, drop down inna di road and a bare blood a come from unda him head'."

She said her father, who was a farmer and a painter, was very quiet and friendly. She said he moved to Bounty Hall after he was robbed and shot in his arm in his community of Drumilly in the parish.

And although she is grateful that they managed to mend fences before his death, she is still confused as to what may have lead someone to shoot her father.

"Last Thursday was the last time him seh to mi, 'yuh know mi daughter, fi di time mi deh mongst yuh, mi search yuh out eno, and yuh nuh have nothing near bad mind inna yuh. Yuh nuh have no hatred inna yuh heart gainst mi'."

Police reports are that at about 7:45 p.m., residents heard explosions and summoned them. Upon their arrival, Kelly was seen lying on his back along the roadway with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Upon until press time yesterday, the police said no real motive was established for the killing, but they are still investigating.