Creek Side shooting: Rastafarian community mourns two killed in Antigua attack

A 49-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman were shot dead at Creek Side on Tuesday. Community elder Ras Richie Freeman remembered both victims as peaceful, caring souls.

Rastafarian elder pays tribute to Creek Side shooting victims

Two members of the Rastafarian community were killed in a shooting at Creek Side on Tuesday afternoon, leaving family, friends, and fellow believers grieving. The Antigua Observer reports that Ras Richie Freeman, a longtime Rastafarian associated with the Foundation for Unification in Rastafari, has spoken out about the painful loss of Brother Italis and Sister Yezidi.

Freeman, who knew both victims for years, described Italis — a 49-year-old man — as a cornerstone of the Big Creek community and the wider Rastafari nation. "Very helpful. He's an ear, he will listen to you, he will help you," Freeman recalled. He characterised Italis as a humble, quiet man who never hesitated to lend a hand to those around him.

He spoke with equal warmth about Yezidi, 18, whom he had watched grow up within the Rastafarian community. She had already begun taking on leadership responsibilities, making her death particularly hard to accept. "Her whole future was ahead of her, of course," Freeman said.

According to police, the two victims were shot sometime between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. A silver Honda CR-V carrying several occupants pulled up outside a shop in Creek Side. More than one armed person reportedly stepped out of the vehicle and opened fire. Both victims sustained multiple gunshot wounds and were transported to hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Freeman said he was in the community when word of the shooting began to spread. Phone calls started coming in and he reached out to others to piece together what had happened. He held on to hope even after hearing the victims had been taken to hospital. "Even when I heard that they went to the hospital, I had a lot of faith, hoping that they would both pull through," he said. The confirmation of their deaths was difficult to process.

Returning to familiar spots in the community — places where he would ordinarily have crossed paths with the two — brought the reality of their absence into sharp focus.

Beyond the personal loss, Freeman believes the killings should prompt broader reflection on the direction of society. He questioned what has become of a time when elders guided young people freely, regardless of whether they were their own children. "We just need to respect society more in terms of living as a community, being your brother's keeper," he said.

He called for more spaces where people can gather, speak openly, and support one another, and argued that addressing community challenges requires more than conventional responses. "The system in itself is failing or has failed and we need to regroup as a society," Freeman said.

For now, his immediate focus is on the grieving families and a Rastafarian community struggling to come to terms with the deaths of two of its own. Freeman extended his condolences and pledged that the families would not be left to face their grief alone. "I just want to let the family know. Iman, Ras Richie and the whole Rastafari community is there. We're going to be by your side for as long as it is needed."

Source: Antigua Observer