Home Invasion in Ladyville
A home invasion almost turned deadly on Monday night in Ladyville Village. A family of five was about to retire for the night when a gunman attacked them inside their house on Compassion Lane in the village. The two adults and their three children are still shaken up after the frightening ordeal. Today, owner of the house and father Jeffrey Elijio is still in the hospital receiving treatment for his gunshot wound. Andrea Polanco went to speak with the family to find out more about the brutal attack. Here’s that story.
Voice of: Camille Sanker, Victim of Home Invasion
“I, I, I feel so frightened that I nuh even know weh fi say.”
Jeffrey Elijio
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Terror visited the Elijio-Sanker family at their home in Ladyville Village on Monday night. Just after nine-thirty, four of the five family members were getting ready for bed when they heard three knocks on this front door.
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“We hear wah bang on the door and he asked that who dat? Nobody answered. Deh bang again and he said dah who dat but nobody answered. I see he come inna the room and he have a lee knife in the shoes pocket. I tell ah Jeff nuh open the door.”
But the owner of the house thirty-five-year-old Jeffery Elijio didn’t take his partner’s advice. He opened the door – and there was a masked man with a loaded gun waiting for him on the other side.
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“He walked right outside and he opened the door. As he opened the door, they shot ah. I just hear one shot. By the time I could hear that I look through my room door and I see he di escape fi come through the backdoor.”
Andrea Polanco
“He was shot where?”
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“He was shot in his stomach – one shot – and look like when he done escape the person didn’t get enough.”
Elijio was shot in the abdomen and he narrowly escaped with his life through the back door of his home and the neighbours rescued him. Meanwhile, the gunman threatened Camille Sanker – she says that she begged for her life.
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“The person come after me inna my room and he pointed the gun on me and I asked him, I said, sir please don’t shoot me because I have my kids. And the person turned around and he walked out. I stay inna the room because I was very frightened.”
Sanker says she only saw one attacker but her children told her there was a second man in their house. By the time the cops arrived, the attacker was gone. Elijio remains hospitalized in a stable condition. The family says they were able to recognize who attacked them because the person was dressed in dark clothing and were fully masked. Today she says she doesn’t know why her common-law-husband was attacked and she fears that the assailant or assailants may return.
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“I nuh see what direction they gone and I nuh see dah who because the persons had on mask so I couldn’t recognize.”
Andrea Polanco
“And they didn’t say anything to your husband?”
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“Nothing. Not a word they uttered out of their mouth. Other than my son weh mi inna the chair sitting down they tell him to shut up and he said yes sir I wah shut up. That is the only word they said, nothing else.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, it seems that they came there with the intent to kill your husband?”
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“Well, it looks so because well just one shot they give. I nuh know because as far as I know he dah nuh somebody weh have problem with nobody. So, I nuh know weh deh come fah.”
Andrea Polanco
“And they didn’t ransack your house, touch anything?”
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“Nothing. Nothing. After deh shot he it looks like they look around a lee bit inna the house and from there they gone.”
Andrea Polanco
“And you can’t think of any reason why someone would do something like this?”
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“No, ma’am. None. I can’t think of why. I asked him and he said nothing and I even asked him if he could recognize them and he said no.”
Andrea Polanco
“Are you fearful now, Ms Camille, that these men may come back to your property?”
Voice of: Camille Sanker
“Of course, I am scared because first time inna my life I ever gone through something like this. I am very afraid.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
