Boy shot dead, dad wounded

AN 11-YEAR-OLD BOY is dead and last night his father was a patient at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) nursing a gunshot injury. Yesterday, acting police public relations officer Inspector David Welch confirmed that Luke Bjerkhamn succumbed to a gunshot wound to the chest while at his Leslie Gardens, Maynards, St Peter residence. He said Luke was taken to the Sandy Crest Medical Centre, Holetown, St James, where he was pronounced dead. Father Johan Bjerkhamn, 39, reportedly received an injury to one of his hands. The incident, which took place some time after 1:30 p.m., reportedly occurred during the cleaning of a firearm. Johan was also initially taken to Sandy Crest but then transported to the QEH by ambulance where he was scheduled to undergo surgery last night. Luke and Johan are the grandson and son respectively, of prominent real estate developer and head of the Jada Group of Companies, Bjorn Bjerkhamn. Yesterday, a very distraught Anna Adamira, mother of Johan and the child’s grandmother, speaking from Canada, recalled her grandson as an “incredible child”. A tearful Adamira said she was scheduled to take Luke on holiday in August and “he was very excited”.

Obedient child  “Luke was such an angel, he was a very obedient child. This is a tragedy and I don’t know how his father is going to handle it,” she lamented.  Adamira, who will be flying back to the island today, said she had already packed a suitcase full of clothes for Luke, who was a former student of St Winifred’s and was a first form student of The St Michael School. “This is very unfortunate. I’m in shock because right now Johan is also in the hospital and I’m not there to be with him. He lives for that child, his only child, his whole world surrounds Luke,” she added. Adamira said Luke lived with his mother Gayle Bjerkhamn and usually visited his father on weekends. Last night, speaking from the home of a family member, an inconsolable Gayle said she was not at home when the incident occurred and she did not know how she would go home to face Luke’s empty bedroom.