A Grisly Triple Murder in Sand Hill; Was it Drug-related?
It’s the kind of incident that frequently occurs in the drug world, a hit is placed on persons who cross someone powerful, either over money or product. That’s what police are investigating tonight, following a most heinous occurrence on Thursday. Three friends were executed inside a home in Sand Hill Village and the deadly attack was carefully calculated and precise. When residents heard gunshots in the distance last night, they did not realize that an assignment was being carried out with cold precision. It wasn’t until an old woman visited a neighbor’s house sometime later to purchase a cigarette that she discovered a horribly gruesome scene. The motive has not been ascertained but investigators believe that the killings were drug-related. News Five’s Isani Cayetano begins our coverage.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
An elderly woman who went looking for a friend at a neighbor’s house on Thursday night in Sand Hill Village, stumbled upon a most gruesome crime scene. Jennifer Anthony approached this slightly elevated wooden structure sometime closer to eleven p.m. looking for forty-three-year-old Emerson Garcia. What she encountered was something altogether horrific.
Jennifer Anthony
Jennifer Anthony, Grandmother of Deceased
“Well I gaan deh gaan hail mi friend mek ah buy mih lee cigarette and I di hail three ah dehn. Di house mi open, bright light, I di hail dehn, but when I look like I sih like di three ah dehn di sleep. But I seh how di three ah dehn di sleep like that with di door open and draft di drop pan dehn. So I di holla and I di hail dehn and hail dehn. Nobody ansa me. So I gaan eena di step some more and I gaan eena di house and then di young man, one ah dehn sihdown flat, weh da mi neighbor weh live right ya, sihdown flat with ih hand like dis, stiff and I wonder how ih hand look soh.”
Anthony did not realize at first what she had happened upon, despite hearing several gunshots in that vicinity sometime earlier.
Jennifer Anthony
“We hyah di gunshot but I mih think da like way down da di junction yonder, dehn mi sound like to me and I tell she cause she mi deh home with me. Ah tell ahn, “Gial, gunshot.” She seh, “No, mommy.” Ih seh da dynamite. Dynamite? Ah seh, “Deh done di staat Christmas?”
Unbeknownst to her, the sharp blasts that echoed across the neighborhood were lethal rounds being fired point-blank at her grandson and his two friends, including Garcia who resided at the property.
Jennifer Anthony
“Weh mek ah realize something mussi happen because ah sih di young man ah tell yoh weh da mi neighbor eena di house ova deh di sihdown, but ih di bleed down ih head ya, yoh undastand mi, ih head… blood di cohn. So ah look eena ih face and I seh something bad mussi happen and then ah look ova soh, but ah mi done sih di three ah dehn di lay down, but a think dehn di sleep. When a look da back, ah sih mi grandson friend da back di lay down pan ih belly too. Then ah look pan he and ah sih blood pan ih foot like and he deh pan ih belly. Then ah look soh and da my grandson now I di sih di lay down pan his side soh with ih head soh, raggy up [ih head], and I bend down and I touch he fi wonda if da he, but I di sih like da he and then when I look round and round, I sih all di blood, all bout di way, then I realize I di sih blood.”
Someone had carried out a deadly assignment on the trio, the kind of wet work reserved for gang members and drug dealers. Garcia’s niece was at work when her phone began ringing.
Voice of: Tyra Bood
Voice of: Tyra Bood, Relative of Deceased
“I got the phone call and my cousin told me [that] they just shot Emerson. Soh I da like, “Gyal, stop play.” She was…, “Yes, they just shot him.” So I seh, “Is he dead?” She seh yes ih dead. So I seh, “Arite then, right now we di come.” So we leff di house, we gaan ova deh and police mi deh deh. Dehn mi di deal with the scene and ih mi just hard fi deal with knowing that Emerson da just wahn kind person, loving. He noh do nobody nothing. Once Emo have it, everybody have it.”
Despite Garcia’s easygoing personality, it is alleged that he was also selling marijuana from the residence. Bernadette Augustine is Charleston Jenkins’ aunt. She was summoned to the ghastly scene by her mother moments later.
Bernadette Augustine
Bernadette Augustine, Relative of Deceased
“I step pan di verandah and when I step pan di verandah, I sih my friend Emo with wahn hole eena ih head and I cohn close and I sih my nephew pan di ground full ah blood and she seh, “One more di deh mama. One more deh da back.” I seh, “Ma, I cyan goh noh more eena di house.” I seh, “I cyant tek it. I gwein.” And then I come out and I tell she, yes Stony dead and then she bruk down. Then I gaan alert di neighbors dehn noh and tell everybody fi call police cause dehn bwai dead.”
Charleston’s mother is still beside herself with grief. Her son, much like twenty-year-old Jareem Jamal Davis, are believed to be collateral damage in the deadly assault on Garcia’s home.
Isani Cayetano
“What could have brought about this extreme violence?”
Bernadette Augustine
“That da di one. I noh know weh happen deh. I noh undastand cause Charleston cool, Emo cool, di lee bally cool. Everybody cool. We neva hyah bout nobody got beef wid dehn bally. Nobody got no beef.”
Voice of: Tyra Bood
“Ih just mi unbelievable fi know that why would somebody do Emerson this, knowing he noh fool with nobody. He always jovial, he always deh home. If he noh deh home ih deh ya. He go outta Chiney go buy and come back home. He just so nice. Ih just hard fi believe.”
Isani Cayetano
“But he wasn’t alone. He was along with two other persons inside the home. Can you share with us who those young men were and perhaps what may have led to this violent outcome?”
Tyra Bood
“As to what led to it, we have absolutely no idea because, like a tell yoh, di three young man. The two with Emerson, there always kind, there always, dehn always deh round di neighborhood. Everybody know dehn, dehn da nice persons. Dehn noh fool with people, dehn very respectable and mannerly. Soh ih just haad fi believe knowing that three ah dehn eena dis house get killed, like fu what reason? Nobody undastand.”
Isani Cayetano for News Five.
