By EARYEL BOWLEG

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

TEN-year-old Lorencia Simmons Walkes was remembered yesterday as a “loving, happy child” who always greeted her teachers with hugs.

Lorencia died in hospital on Sunday, more than a week after she and three others were shot. Yesterday, Minister of Education Jeff Lloyd and his ministry offered their condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of the child yesterday.

In a statement, the ministry said it was “deeply aggrieved” to learn about the Sybil Strachan Primary School fifth grader’s “untimely” death. The statement added that her teacher describes her as a “loving, happy child, who always greeted us with hugs.”

It was revealed that her primary school will hold a memorial service during the fall term as soon as staff and students have returned from the summer break, noting teachers and staff are mourning her death. Even the western New Providence primary school district “family” is in mourning, according to the ministry.

Lorencia was among the three people who were shot on May 29 when gunmen opened fire in front of a home at Belville Circle off Iguana Way. A man who was shot during the incident died at the scene.

Mr Lloyd labelled the crime as “a horrible incident which has resulted in the untimely demise of an innocent little girl”.

“Obviously this should never happen to anyone, much less to an innocent child. Lorencia has left us much too soon. While we all feel deprived of a precious life of a cherished child, let us seek to find some measure of solace in the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1, which reminds us that ‘….if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’. May this provide consolation. Our prayer is that the grace and mercy of God will grant healing and peace to Lorencia’s family and loved ones,” Mr Lloyd said.

A 22-year-old man is in custody in connection with the killing.