WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – A man who was gunned down in Little London in Westmoreland on Friday morning has been hailed as a “man of God” by his family and the wider community.

Christval Gayle is said to have been riding home on his bicycle from choir practice at his church when he was killed by unknown assailants.

READ: Man gunned down in Little London

“He’s was a man of God. Is a good boy, a prayer warrior,” his mother Millicent Richards said of her now deceased 27-year-old son.

Richards said Gayle left their home in the crime-plagued community of Russia to live with his Bishop, who heads the King Jesus Pentecostal Church, in the parish.

“Three years ago him left and live wid him Bishop. When him sing and pray, di yard mash dung. Mi nuh know how him nuh see deh death deh, because everything him always see weh nuh right,” the mother added as she believes her son had spiritual gifts,” she said.

Gayle’s father, Devon, told OBSERVER ONLINE that his son was a “good yute”, who had a close relationship with God.

“Him [was] a man of God, baptised and filled with the Holy Ghost,” he reassured.

Meanwhile, the family told OBSERVER ONLINE that their Christmas preparations have gone sour, given the death of their loved one.

“Right now Christmas a come and it’s a dawn in the family. I thought it was going to be a merry Christmas, but it’s not going to be this year,” a distraught Nickesha Gayle revealed.

Nickesha said her brother’s death has come as a shock to the family as he was no troublemaker.

“It really shocking to the family cause it’s not like is a person weh give trouble. Wi never really expect inna million years seh dis did a guh happen,” the seemingly disheartened woman added.

As for her mom, she too agreed that the Christmas will not be so merry this year.

“Bitter, Bitter, it nah guh nice. Not a pretty Christmas wid mi this year, it doh pretty wid we” cried Richards as she took a glance at her son’s photo.