By KEILE CAMPBELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
THE man accused of killing 16-year-old Davinique Gray, who was shot while charging her phone in 2024, was himself gunned down outside his Pinewood Gardens home on Friday.
Keiron Butler’s death comes seven months after Gamaliel Gray, the man police said was the intended target of the 2024 attack that claimed the innocent schoolgirl’s life, was shot dead in South Beach. Gunmen in Japanese-model vehicles carried out both shootings.
Butler’s partner, Stanlesha Oliver, drove him to Princess Margaret Hospital “as fast as I can”, crying for help.
“I remember screaming over for help, letting them know that he got shot,” Ms Oliver, the mother of their eight-year-old daughter, told The Tribune yesterday. “They came, brought the stretcher, carry him. They made me wait, wait, wait, wait.”
Ms Oliver, 29, said that although she was shocked and scared, her only instinct was to get him help. She said medical staff found a pulse but gave no further information until Butler’s mother arrived. The medical team later told them the second bullet had damaged his arteries, and he had lost a lot of blood.
“Heart stopped, so that was it,” she said.
According to police, the shooting happened around 1.30pm on Sequoia Street, shortly after Butler, 29, and a female companion arrived at his home. Police said a silver Japanese-model vehicle pulled up alongside them, and a lone gunman got out, opened fire and then fled west.
Davinique, an 11th grader at RM Bailey High School, was inside her Nassau Village home on January 6, 2024, when gunfire ripped through the house. Her father had been murdered two years earlier, and she was killed a day after what would have been his birthday. She was the eighth person murdered that year. Prime Minister Philip Davis said at the time that he was saddened and shocked by the killings.
Police said Gamaliel Gray, who was in a relationship with Davinique’s mother, was at the house when it was shot up. He was wanted in connection with the killing of Gerrard Coakley, who was shot dead in his South Beach home on January 2. Then Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander suggested the motive was gang retaliation.
Gamaliel Gray surrendered to police days after the teenager’s death and was charged with Mr Coakley’s murder. He was granted bail in December 2024 and fitted with a monitoring device.
On March 24 this year, he was shot dead while working on a vehicle outside his home in the area of Ruthland Avenue and South Beach Drive. Police said the occupants of a Japanese vehicle opened fire on him.
Butler was arrested in the Berry Islands on February 9, 2024, and charged with Davinique’s murder before Magistrate Algernon Allen Jr five days later. Police alleged he shot up the home. He was remanded and his case was sent to the Supreme Court. The status of the case could not be confirmed up to press time.
Davinique’s mother, Shinika Johnson, was charged in January 2024 with harbouring a criminal for allegedly allowing Gamaliel Gray to stay at her home while he was wanted by police. She pleaded not guilty and was granted $10,000 bail. After Gamaliel Gray’s death in March, she told The Tribune the killing had made it harder to move on from her daughter’s death.
Ms Oliver said she had no idea why anyone would want to harm Butler, and that the allegation against him did not fit the man she knew.
“That is not his character. It’s not his character. I don’t see him doing something like that,” she said.
She said she and Butler had been together since 2015, having been high school sweethearts. She described him as a loving man and devoted father who worked in construction with his uncle and was focused on building a financially stable future for his family.
“Anyone who knows Keiron will tell you he’s big on family,” she said. “That was his drive. He wanted us to be happy, he wanted us to live good, he wanted us to depend on him, he wanted us to be financially stable so we could depend on him.”
She said watching him be a father to their daughter brought her joy.
The child was picked up from school by her uncle after the shooting. Ms Oliver said her daughter later came to her and asked whether her father was still alive.
“It took me a little minute to get it out,” she said. “I told her, ‘No, your daddy is gone’. She’s still pretty young, so she asked me, ‘Mummy, does that mean he’s in heaven or is his spirit roaming?’ I said he’s in heaven, he’s watching us, just to give her a little peace.”
Asked whether she felt daunted by the prospect of raising their daughter alone, Ms Oliver said it was hard to answer at the moment.
“I’m mummy and daddy now,” she said. “I only could try my best.”