God ‘lick’ church killer in head after murder, says cop
Published:Saturday | February 6, 2021 | 1:15 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
Declaring that they would not surrender their sacred temple to criminals, worshippers at the Agape Christian Fellowship in Falmouth, Trelawny, were back at church on Thursday, days after witnessing a shocking murder during one of their services.
On Sunday, a brazen gun attack during a prayer and worship session had claimed the life of one of their own, 51-year-old Andrea Lowe-Garwood.
On Thursday, as they gathered to start the healing and receive counselling, the churchgoers vowed to return on Sunday for another worship session.
The spot where Lowe-Garwood stood with her hands raised to the heavens as the gunman pumped several bullets into her body was marked with a pot of flowers.
Community police officer Wayne Wallace assured the congregants that the police would be stepping up efforts to protect them as they worship.
“The enemy came in church – and yes, the enemy does come to church – and for the entire day the police [were] kept busy doing our investigations and all the works,” he said, referring to the incident which unfolded about 10:30 a.m.
“And before 1 p.m., we were able to call our partners in St James and tell them where to go and pick up the wrongdoers, and before 24 hours was up, we had every single person in custody waiting to be charged for this,” Wallace said.
“God is to be praised! You asked, ‘Where was God?’. He was sitting right there beside Andrea and God lick him in his head and him run weh lef him cell phone,” Wallace said, highlighting a key piece of evidence used to make a swift breakthrough in the case, which police theorise is a result of a family dispute.
The Reverend Junior Rutty, pastor of the Agape Christian Fellowship Church, reminded his congregation that in 2015, Delroy Roper was murdered while he preached in Papine, St Andrew, and that in 2018, youth pastor James Johnson of the Church of God of Prophecy in St Catherine was murdered inside the church.
On high alert
He also reminded them of the murder of Wayne Stanberry, who was shot and killed just as he entered church at the Emmanuel Apostolic Church on Slipe Road in Kingston.
The pastor said that since Lowe-Garwood’s killing, church members have been on high alert and predicted that how churchgoers operate at church will forever change.
“It has set the [stage] for heightening awareness when we go to worship,” Rutty stated as he encouraged those who witnessed the gruesome killing to attend counselling sessions.
Counselling for the members of the church was provided by the Victim Support Unit of the Ministry of Justice.
A team from the Child Protection and Family Services Agency has also begun grief and trauma counselling for children who witnessed the homicide.