Hugh CrosskillGlenroy Sinclair and Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporters
VETERAN JOURNALIST, broadcaster and sports commentator Hugh Crosskill Jnr was shot dead yesterday morning in what was reported as a scuffle with a security guard at a medical complex on Ripon Road in Kingston.
News of his death was greeted with expressions of shock across the society and within the media fraternity in particular.
Allegations are that Mr. Crosskill, 47, who battled with crack/cocaine addiction over several years and was known to wander the streets of the Corporate Area aimlessly, entered the premises at about 6:30 a.m. A female staff member raised an alarm and the security guard on duty responded.
Reports are that the security guard asked him to leave and that a struggle developed during which he was shot in the chest. He died on the spot. The gun, which was used in the incident by the security guard, has since been sent to the Government Forensic Laboratory for testing. "That is the normal procedure," said Superintendent Rosie McDonald-Barker, head of the St. Andrew Central Police Division.
Mr. Crosskill, who is survived by parents, three children and three brothers, has left behind a trail of tears. His father Hugh Crosskill Snr., a frequent contributor to local newspapers and radio programmes, told The Gleaner yesterday that shortly after his son left Radio Jamaica in 1996, he discovered that he was on crack/cocaine.
"We tried to help him and he was sent to Cuba to a detox facility. He did not like it over there and he came back. He was then sent to several rehabilitation centres," Crosskill Snr. said.
He, however, apparently never kicked the habit.
Yesterday colleague journalist Cliff Hughes spoke of their working relationship.
"When I saw his body, I felt shock, mostly outrage and anger... anger at him and anger at the merchants of death who peddle crack/cocaine," a subdued Hughes told The Gleaner.
Mr. Hughes said although he had known him for many years they had worked more closely over the last five years, especially when Mr. Crosskill joined the Power 106 current affairs programme 'Nationwide' in 1999.
"We believed that Hugh Crosskill had too brilliant a mind, was too brilliant a man not to be in broadcasting so we made efforts to help him. We did it for five years until February when under very strong terms and conditions...We agreed that we couldn't work with him unless he was in a supervised (detox) programme," Mr. Hughes said. He added that it had been "extremely painful" for him to watch Mr. Crosskill decline. "It's been very difficult," he said.
Crosskill Jnr. was born in Scarborough, England, and at age 12 came to Jamaica where he was enrolled at Kingston College. He was later transferred to Jamaica College.
He joined the now defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) as a trainee reporter in the early 1970s and worked mainly as a radio and television reporter for several years before moving on to the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) in 1984. Several years later he moved on to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London as head of the Caribbean News Service before returning home to do a short stint as general manager at Radio Jamaica (RJR) in 1996.
After resigning from RJR, he worked as a freelance journalist and did a stint on KLAS FM's First Edition in mid-1997 before moving to Nationwide (now on Power 106 FM).
KLAS FM's executive chairman Alston Stewart said Mr. Crosskill's "personable attitude" and "expansive knowledge will be missed" while the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) said it was "deeply saddened" by his death.
His death also sparked a deluge of tributes from persons outside of media, among them Edward Seaga, Leader of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), who expressed his shock at the "tragic and untimely death. He will be remembered for his fine analytic mind and his ability to have the topic of the day during his radio programmes. He became one of our respected journalists," Mr. Seaga added.
Information Minister Colin Campbell described him as one of the finest radio journalists Jamaica has ever produced.
Monsignor Richard Albert, National Democratic Movement (NDM) president, Hyacinth Bennett and Dr. Hopeton Dunn, senior lecturer at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), also remembered him. Dr. Dunn said Mr. Crosskill had made a valuable contribution to media in the Caribbean and described his loss as very tragic. "He brought a precision and professionalism which really deserved special commendation. We've suffered a major loss in the business of media," he said.
