TWO weeks before Phillip Gibson, a Christian father of two, was killed he called his younger brother and told him to be careful in Tivoli Gardens, a tough community in west Kingston.

So, when his family learnt of Phillip’s own death on Wednesday night, they were left shattered.

Devaughnie Gibson, Phillip’s younger brother, told the Jamaica Observer that was the last thing he expected to happen, considering the warning Phillip had given him two weeks prior.

“The last conversation me and him have, him seh mi fi watch miself. Him a tell mi fi be safe and dem ting deh and a ask if mi alright. This a just two weeks ago. So mi ask him wah bout him and him a seh him good, and dem ting deh,” he recalled.

“Dem man deh a genuine yute, man. Him born and grow a Tivoli, but dem man deh not even talk. Phillip a nice yute. Nobody nuh have nothing bad fi seh bout him.”

Gibson, 42, fathered 11- and six-year-old boys, and was a member of the Tivoli Gardens marching band. He was among two killed in a drive-by shooting in Java, a section of Tivoli Gardens, about 7:50 pm Wednesday. The other individual has been identified as 40-year-old Charles Williams, alias ‘Blacks’.

According to the constabulary’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU), “Williams and two other men were sitting on the roadway when they were pounced upon by gunmen who opened fire, hitting them. The police were alerted and they were taken to hospital where Williams and another man were pronounced dead and the other admitted for treatment.”

Devaughnie recalled receiving the news of his brother’s death.

“Me deh pon the road last night [Wednesday] and get a call from a friend. And the girl a tell me seh when me come home she will tell me wah happen. And then she call me back and tell me. All now me nuh cry,” he said.

Another brother, Jevaughnie Gibson, said he may have escaped death that night, as he was supposed to have gone and seen Phillip.

“Me shocked. Me did fi guh look fi him ina the same time. Maybe if me did reach, a me and him woulda dead round deh. Or maybe me coulda save him. But me nuh get nuh chance. Me did fi go look fi him because him a help me open a NCB (National Commercial Bank) account,” he said.

“Certain things weh me wah help wid, like me passport, birth paper and ID, him eva help me out fi get them. He’s an educated yute. Him more educated than me… the knowledge weh him have me nuh have dah knowledge deh suh him help me out ina certain things.”

Jevaughnie said he delayed seeing him because he has yet to follow through on something his brother told him to do.

“Me did fi sort out mi passport and mi nuh do it yet. If him tell me fi do something and me nuh dweet, me fraid fi show me face to him. Him nuh angry enuh, but him bark offa yuh. Him push me. Him help ina everything from school days coming up to now. Him always deh-deh fi push me.”

Jevaughnie said Phillip was recently even trying to get him enrolled at HEART Trust/NSTA.

“Me sign up the paper and him seh me fi wait pon a call, suh me and him can go the same place. Him already start, suh him did a try get me in.”

Jevaughnie said their father had taken Phillip’s death hard.

“Him nuh too sleep last night. Him just gone a him bed,” he said yesterday afternoon. “Nine a we him have and Phillip is the second oldest one.”

The CCU said detectives assigned to the Kingston Western Police Division were probing the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of the two men.

Meanwhile, there have been 22 murders in the division since the start of the year, a 29 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. There have also been 27 shootings in the division, four up from 2020.