Gunman waved his weapon in the air as if to brag ‘I got him’
The man who shot Kimwandae Walker dead in front of his two young children waved the gun above his head in triumph as he fled the scene, according to an eye witness.The brazen act was watched by a 50-year-old woman one of the few people brave enough to give evidence to police about the infamous Good Friday killing.She gave a statement to detectives soon after the April 2, 2010 murder and spoke recently to The Royal Gazette about what she saw in a bid to encourage others to speak up.“The public know more,” said the woman, who asked not to be named. “If I knew more, trust me, I’d let it all hang out, because this has got to stop.“I have a son; he’s not into this [gang] stuff, but you never know. My heart hurts because we have got so many mothers and families out there hurting. None of it’s necessary.”Mr Walker, 35, is one of 16 men killed by gunfire in Bermuda since May 2009 and his murder is one of 12 cases yet to be solved by police.He was shot seven times in the head and body as he flew kites with his son and daughter on the playing field at Victor Scott Primary School at about 2.15pm.Police say about 100 people were there at the time but only a fraction have given statements.The eye witness who spoke to this newspaper was with her husband at the family fun day and had gone to do some crocheting in her car, parked in the south east corner of the field, when she spotted the two assailants.“These two boys on a bike came across. They were right beside my passenger window, going really slow,” she said. “I said ‘wait a minute, this looks strange’ because they were very well covered.”Sensing something was amiss, the woman looked for the licence plate number and then realised there was no licence plate on the bike.She watched them ride “real slow” into the middle of the field and fire one shot at Mr Walker. “That’s when people started screaming and carrying on. That’s when I got down by my front wheel on the driver’s side.“I just heard people screaming and screaming and I just heard all this shooting and it was getting closer towards me. The guy, Kimwandae, was dashing towards my car.“From there, I didn’t see anything else. When I got up, because I didn’t hear any more shooting, I heard the bike riding off.“When I looked they were ... heading out of the field, waving the gun like they had just done something great. He was waving, like bragging, like ‘I got him’.”The woman walked to the back of her car and saw Mr Walker lying on the ground with his eyes open. “I said ‘oh God, this guy is dead’.”She said her husband, who was on the field, saw everything that happened and even made eye contact with the shooter.But she added it was impossible to identify him as his face was covered with a green scarf and a motorcycle helmet visor. “He was a tiny boy,” she said. “When I looked at him on the back of the bike, I said he was tiny.”Badly shaken, she and her husband left the field soon after the shooting and went home.The woman said she tried to nail sheets over her french doors as she was so afraid of something happening because she witnessed the murder.“I was basically frightened because of what had happened and I was nervous. We were both like a total wreck. There was a feeling that I never want to go through that again.”She hadn’t planned to speak to police because of an experience in 2009 when she heard gunshots on Princess Street.On that occasion, she went to Hamilton Police Station to give information and was there for hours while detectives questioned her. They made her feel, she claims, “like I’m the one out there shooting”.But a retired officer persuaded her to give a statement about the Walker murder and a policeman came to her house one Sunday morning.“My husband was very reluctant but I said ‘you never know what little piece will help them to put it together and maybe they can catch somebody’,” she said.“The officer came and we told them all we had seen. He was really a nice officer and we sat down and told him everything.”The woman said she hoped that by sharing her experience, others who have been too afraid to speak up might change their minds. “They are not finding these people,” she said. “Something has got to be done.”l A video of Mr Walker’s mother Shelley appealing for witnesses to come forward can be found here: http://www.bps.bm/playvideo.php?nid=3008