The family and friends of 15-year-old Shinika Riley Jean Phillip say they are grappling with deep sadness and anger following her tragic death.
They say the incident has shaken them to the core.
The teenager, a George Charles Boulevard, Marchand resident, was gunned down at about 7:30 pm on Wednesday at La Coudou, Castries.
Her friends expressed their devastation, highlighting the joy she brought to their lives.
“She was a good friend to us,” one close friend said. “When we weren’t happy, she was always there to make us smile. It’s sad to see her go like this.”
Another friend recounted hearing gunshots and rushing to the scene, where he found Riley lying on the ground, lifeless. “A man didn’t have to kill a girl. She just turned 15. It shows that people today have no mercy,” he lamented.
The mood in the community on Thursday morning was palpable with grief and anger.
Residents are struggling to understand how such violence could claim the life of a young girl, whom they described as vibrant and wanting to change her life around.
“The community is mad. She was one of us,” another friend noted. “We need to come together and put down our guns.”
A close family member shared her heartache, expressing a feeling of failure from the community.
“The village that is supposed to raise a child failed Riley. People saw her taking the wrong path and turned a blind eye,” the family member asserted. “She was a great child who just lost her way.”
As the community mourns, there is a collective call for change. Many are urging young people to abandon violence and seek better paths.
“It’s time for us to come together and try to stop this,” one friend stated. “We have to work on bigger things and better things for our community.”
According to police data, Riley’s death pushed Saint Lucia’s homicide toll to 66 so far in 2024.
Smh
@SLT. Please try La Cour Doux.
To paraphrase, she wanted to change her life around! This implies that she was involved in something which can only be described as negative, 15 is the usual age of form 4 secondary school students, a lit of questions arise here! Was the attending school? Where were the parents and family, (not saying that they were culpable), and more importantly, what was she involved in, at such an early age, that she wanted to, as some who knew her put it, (to change her life around).
Where exactly in Castries is La Coudou, somebody please help me!
Anonymous October 17, 2024 At 2:04 pm
That area right after the Streams of Power church along Waterworks Road. Got its name, “The Sweet Yard” from the amount of vice happening in that area. Ironically there are several churches a stone’s from from that place.
Sosad
Oh my god , only 15 years so where is the father of that young teen where is her mother ..15 years and wanted to turn her life around . Her parents should be arrested ….
I don’t mean no harm – trying to understand and i quote:
“The community is mad. She was one of us,” another friend noted. “We need to come together and put down our guns.”
PUT DOWN OUR GUNS – perhaps it’s a typo – just saying.
Many times we hear calls for the parents and that they should be held responsible for the actions of their children, let me say here that parents are not always responsible for the way their children turn out to be, children have a mind of their own, plus there are ‘friends’, cell phones, internet! We cannot always hold the parents responsible.
Good seed bad seed she someone’s child. That’s an unbearable heartache. Don’t know her and what she was doing out there, that she was trying to change her life at only 15 yrs old. As a mom I see her as a misguided baby trying to fit in, just happen to be in the wrong way. Teenage years are extremely difficult and confusing for some especially if there is no support. RIP PRINCESS CAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU WERE REGARDLESS OF YOUR STRUGGLES
God bless her and family 🙏🏿
People saw her taking the wrong path and turned a blind eye, said a family member…..