Reeling from the news, the parents of close friends of slain police officer Shayne Welch gathered at the scene of his death Monday to recall his quiet demeanour.
Constable Welch, 31, was killed at his home in Kingsland Drive, Christ Church, yesterday morning. He was found lying in the driveway just after 5:30 a.m.
Esther Layne said she was in the shower when she got the news, which left her with a “cold, chilling numbness”.
“I really could not at first understand what I was being told because everything was just sketchy. Between sobs I had to try to decipher what the person was actually saying to me,” she said.
Her son Cameron Layne, Welch and several others maintained a friendship from primary school until Welch’s untimely death. She added that her son was so shaken that he was unable to visit the scene.
She likened Welch’s death to losing her own child.
“That was the sort of effect it had on me and still has,” she told the DAILY NATION, while noting that the lawman visited her house often and was very mannerly and “cool”.
“Always with a ready smile and very level-headed. I have never really seen Shayne flustered,” she said.
Another woman, who gave her name as Anne, said her son Russell was also a close friend of Welch.
She lamented that there was too much bitterness and anger among Barbadians, who needed to be able to handle conflict the peaceful way and to show love in all situations.
Meanwhile, police public relations officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss appealed to anyone who might have any information on the death to contact any police station. (LK)
