Twenty-seven years ago, Debbie Eaton lost her right leg to gunshot wounds, but that did not prevent her from living a full life.
Also called ‘Ninja’, Eaton enjoyed cooking and going to parties, and her infectious laugh could be heard from a mile off. Unfortunately, her loved ones, including her three children, will not taste her delicious meals anymore or be captivated by her warm smile as the 47-year-old vendor was shot to death on Monday morning in a market in downtown Kingston.
It was only tears when the news team visited her community in Wilton Gardens yesterday. Mary*, a relative, said Eaton was a very jovial person.
“But yuh see once yuh trouble har, is a ants nest yuh wake up. Yuh see if yuh ever trouble her kids, family, man, and her cat and dog, a problem. Right now her animals dem out deh sad because dem know something wrong. A sleep mi a sleep and somebody wake mi and tell mi and all now mi can’t eat or sleep. All mi a do is shout out fi Jesus,” she said.
According to police reports, about 8 a.m., Eaton was approached by armed men who shot her. She was transported to the Kingston Public Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Staring at a video of Eaton lying on her stomach in a pool of blood, Mary said she never thought she would have died this way.
SICKLE CELL PATIENT
“She was a sickle cell patient, she sick with her spleen, kidney stone and ovarian cyst. Mi always think it was her sickness going to kill her, mi never know a gunshot,” she said.
She said she last spoke to Eaton on Sunday and they expressed their love for each other.
“She say mi ‘love yuh, eno, mi love yuh very much’, and mi tell her say mi love her too. Sunday night we talk again and she tell mi say she a cook dinner fi she and her boyfriend and we laugh and talk. Her boyfriend say Sunday night was the first dem play suh because she a dance fi him and him a dance fi har and she just happy suh,” she said.
Mary said despite various rumours, she is puzzled as to why anyone would kill Eaton.
“Persons are saying all type of things but I know that my family wasn’t at war with anyone or else she would have told me. She wasn’t a troublemaker. I don’t know how I am going to live without her,” she cried.
*Name changed
