(Jamaica Observer) OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Residents of this parish and the neighbouring St Mary were yesterday still trying to come to terms with the murder of a well-known businessman and architect, who was shot and killed while jogging Tuesday morning in Rio Nuevo, St Mary.
Hansel Williams, Jnr was Tuesday morning accosted by two armed men who shot and killed him while he was doing his regular jogging about 6:30. The men reportedly escaped in a waiting motor car.
Williams, who was found suffering from gunshot wounds, was taken to the St Ann’s Bay Hospital where he died while receiving treatment.
Williams’ wife and their three children, ages 20, 17 and 12, have been finding it difficult to cope with the untimely death of their loved one.
Dianna Williams, who said that she was with her husband just moments before the tragedy, said his shooting death came as a big shock.
She told the Jamaica Observer that they were out walking together, however, as was customary, she turned back at a certain point while he went on a longer distance. It was moments after she turned around and had returned home that she received a call that her husband had been shot.
“He was a serious but good person,” she said of her husband. She said also that he was known to speak “his mind”, but was always a sincere person. “He was very hard-working. [Even] worked too hard sometimes,” she added.
“He took his work and his family serious; he was an architect and when he is doing anything, he doesn’t leave any stone unturned,” the late businessman’s brother, Roger Williams, told the Jamaica Observer.
He remembered his brother as a hard-working man who tried earnestly to get things done the right way.
Williams operated Synergy Construction, which did several projects along the north coast, building houses and refurbishing hotels.
“He’s not in any competition with anybody. He is in a quest within himself to produce the best things and that has gone through for different projects he has worked on,” Roger said.
His late brother, he said, not only looked out for his family, but was one who ensured his employees received the best treatment possible. He also considered his children a priority.
“He look about them (children) the best he could, educated them the best he could and exposed them to many different things and activities that he possibly could,” the late businessman’s brother said.
“This (death) is not something to deal with. Everybody watch this on the news every day about different families. How do you deal with this? There is no easy way to deal with when somebody is, at age 47, gone and you know your grandparents lived to 80 years old,” said Roger Williams. “There are
so many questions going through your head.”
He took comfort in his belief that God would allow the family to move on.
“It does bring a sharp focus about how we as human beings are hurting each other for jewellery, for envy, for some little things that have devalued life, and what each other can contribute. We need to reflect and look on how we are approaching life and what we are doing (to) each other,” he added.
