Murder on live

The local social media community, particularly TikTokers, was plunged into grief over the weekend, following Saturday night’s brazen murder of Xavier Fogah, more popularly known as ‘Niah Gang’, whose death has left another child without a father and renewed fears about the safety of individuals on the platform.

Deputy Superintendent Michael Campbell, in charge of the crime portfolio in the St Catherine South Police Division, confirmed Fogah’s killing yesterday and indicated that up to midday, there had been no established motive for the 23-year-old’s demise.

“There is not much we have so far other than what happened. We are currently visiting the community, speaking with family, and we will also be speaking with some officers from Old Harbour,” said Campbell, noting that the incident occurred sometime after 9 p.m. on Panton Lane in the St Catherine community.

Campbell said Fogah was never on the police’s radar as a violence producer and that there were no reports of him being involved in any gang feuds. There were also no reports of gang warfare in that area of the St Catherine South Division, he added.

“It (murder) is still a mystery. As I said, we are still meeting with the family members on the ground to see what we can pick up,” continued the senior police officer, shouting orders to persons around him. He said the police are keeping a presence in the area.

Moments before Fogah was cut down, he was involved in a TikTok match, where users co-host with other creators in real time. He and his co-host were exchanging barbs about “badness” and their ability to locate each other and do harm.

During the banter, a man sitting beside Fogah saw the attackers coming their way and took off running. So, too, did Fogah before gunshots rang out off camera.

Videos later circulated with Fogah’s lifeless body on the ground, with some on social media reporting that he was shot multiple times in the head as they expressed disbelief and reflected on previous videos of Fogah promising he would be rich by 2025. The man who was with him reportedly escaped from the shooters.

Yesterday morning, a group of Fogah’s friends stood near the spot where he died and where bloodstains had been covered.

Fogah became known on TikTok for his lyrical freestyles and controversial clashes with fellow TikTokers on social media. Yesterday, however, his friends doubted that his death was a result of upsetting the wrong person on the platform.

“This is more bad mind than anything else,” said one youngster, theorising that people in the hard-pressed community might have become jealous of Fogah’s rise in popularity. They said it was he who fed them and that he had only recently purchased a new BMW motor car. They noted that before going viral on the platform, Fogah sold egg and plantain sandwiches for a living.

Yesterday, his four-year-old daughter looked on as those among her spoke about what had happened.

Yesterday, security and intelligence expert Robert Finzi-Smith said Fogah’s death is a reflection of concerns he expressed regarding the misuse of social media and its impact on individuals’ safety. He said there are two main issues: the open disrespecting of individuals on the platform and the financial gains that could cause rivalries.

“People will say stuff. People will take offence to the stuff ,and it goes beyond, and I think it is far more serious than a lot of people would like to understand,” said Finzi-Smith. “We have a country where people take things very personally, and then ironically, you have people who do stuff for likes and then end up being disliked.

“The size of the audience determines the effect of the disrespect. If I tell you something hurtful in front of four people, it hurts. But if I tell you something in front of 400 ... and then there is the other part where it is financially viable. So some people feel that you are making money and they are not,” he said. “And if you get more likes than I do, then you’re going to get more money than I do, and that is a problem.”

Threatening someone is a criminal offence, and while many people will report threats made face-to-face to the police, people seldom report those that are issued over social media for fear they will be labelled soft, Finzi-Smith argued. This is where many take matters into their own hands, he said, inflicting their version of justice on others.

Smith said individuals are foolishly giving away their current and future locations and go as far as even describing themselves and the clothes they are wearing to persons who may be out to harm them.

Fogah was the latest of at least two people who were murdered while they were live on TikTok. Keauno Watson, a high-achieving University of the West Indies student, was also gunned down during a live in September. In the meantime, several other social media influencers, including Nigel ‘Big Meech’ Walford, and Aneka ‘Slickianna” Townsend, have also either been killed or injured in the last year.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com