‘I will never sleep good again’ Mother grieves slain son in US gun attack

When Keisha Williams discovered she was pregnant 20 years ago, she was filled with joy. Already a mother of three girls, she prayed for a son — and, she said, her prayer was answered in an almost prophetic moment when a pastor placed a hand on her belly and told her she was carrying a boy. 

He even suggested the name Daniel.

Born on Christmas Day, Daniel Peart became her Yuletide blessing, a child she described as the centre of attention in the family and the pride of those around him.

"Daniel was a very happy little boy,” she recalled. “He liked to play and was full of manners. He was a good child.”

She said he spent his early years in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew, until age 11, when he moved to live with relatives in the United States. Even after migrating, the bond with his mother remained close.

“My son would call mi very often, and he used to always joke around and tell mi that when him call mi, a one time it must ring before mi answer. I always look forward to him calling me and just keep mi up to date with what’s happening,” she said. 

That routine call, however, has now fallen silent.

Peart, 20, was fatally shot on May 6 in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA, after police responded to reports of gunfire on Easton Street around 3:15 a.m. He was found with a gunshot wound to the head and pronounced dead at the scene, according to reports from nbcconnecticut.com.

Three young men have since been arrested in connection with the killing.  

For Williams, the news of her son’s death came at work, delivered in a phone call from Peart’s father. She said the line went dead soon after.

"Him seh mi son get shot in his head,” she recalled.

It hit like a ton of bricks.

“I don’t know how, but I fell to the ground. Mi tell miself seh is a prank, but then mi a say nobody can’t run dem serious joke deh wid mi.”

Since that moment, she said, life has been unbearable.

“It really hurt, and the only reason why mi seh mi son dead is because I am not getting any calls from him, and my son would normally call mi. I am not good, and mi cry and crash out every day. I want to see and hear my son’s laughter. I want to hear his voice, but I can’t hear from him," she moaned.

Williams described Peart as a respectful young man with dreams of joining the US Army. She said he was playful, social, and well known in his community.

“He was full of manners, and he didn’t smoke or have any piercings or tattoo,” she said. “He wanted to go into the army, and I just always remember that I told him not to worry and that I was going to take care of him. And he told me not to worry because he was the one who was going to take care of me. He said that I should just continue to show him a mother's love and pray for him.”

Williams said one of her most enduring memories is him singing along to music, including Vybz Kartel’s Open Up the Door for Me.

Now, with a suspect still before the courts, she is pleading for answers she believes may never come.

"All I want to know is, why you shoot and kill my son?” she said.

“I will never sleep good again because you killed my child, but I just want to know why you did it.

“He has a little brother that he never met in person, and him seh when him come a di two a dem would ‘par’; but now mi just going to have to hug up my son’s dead body," Williams said between tears. 

Fighting back the tears, she issued a message to other parents, urging vigilance and prayer.

“Pray for your kids,” she said.

Williams had been looking forward to seeing Daniel again this summer. Instead, she now faces the unbearable reality of preparing to see him for the last time.