Families Shattered After Chopin Triple Homicide

Authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward after a deadly shooting in Chopin, Castries left three men dead and another fighting for his life, devastating families and reigniting calls to address gun violence.

The victims – brothers Jesse Charles, 28, and Emon Charles, 45, both from Chopin, along with their 36-year-old neighbour Servelus Bernard – were killed in the Wednesday evening attack. A fourth victim, whose identity has not been released, remained in critical condition as of Friday.

The quiet of April 30 was shattered by gunfire followed by grief which is almost too much to bear for the mother of Jesse and Emon Charles. In a raw and emotional interview, she recounted the harrowing moment she heard the gunshots that took the lives of her sons.

“I called [Jesse] and I said bring a Sprite for me…. He was on the phone with me,” she said, struggling through tears. “Then I came out the door and I heard multiple bullets…. I didn’t even know my older one, Emon, was there. He just came from work.”

Through broken phrases and anguish, she described running toward the scene and finding Emon lying face down, unable to speak but still conscious. She called out to him, shook him and begged him to respond.

“Then one of my daughters told me, ‘Mommy, Jesse’s in the balcony’. When I entered, I saw Jesse lying down flat. He was already dead. I took him, I put his head on my lap…. All the bullets in his ribs, all in his arm… and I stayed there until the ambulance came.”

Jesse had only returned home on March 17 after serving time at the Bordelais Correctional Facility. The mother said she had heard rumours that “whoever come out from jail will get it,” and her heart sank when she realised Jesse may have been targeted.

While Jesse had no children, Emon left behind three.

“They shouldn’t kill him like that,” she said. “He did his time. He just come back. They have to stop that…. That violence has to stop.”

A father’s grief

Wilfred Bernard, the father of Servelus Bernard, still finds it hard to believe his son is gone.

“I get a phone call, they told me my son got shot,” he recounted. “When I reach my home, I cannot enter because there’s police around. They put a yellow ribbon…. After about two hours, I pick up my wife and go to the hospital.” He never got to say goodbye.

Servelus, Wilfred said, had no known conflicts and wasn’t involved in any trouble. That Wednesday morning, he had even driven his father to town before returning home.

“He was sitting there by my yard, and he got shot and he died,” Wilfred said. “Now, whatever I have to do on my vehicle, I have to go to a garage. He did everything. It’s like my right-hand side I lose.”

The gunmen reportedly fled into nearby bushes, and as the community reels from the violence, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force has urged anyone with information about the crime to share it with the Criminal Investigations Department at 456-3770, anonymously via the Crime Hotline at 555, or through the Crime Hotline app.