By LEANDRA ROLLE 

Tribune Chief Reporter 

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THIRTY-year-old Leonard Symonette was just weeks away from welcoming his second child when he was shot and killed early Friday morning — a tragedy that has shattered his family.

A construction worker with dreams of having 15 children, he saw fatherhood as central to his life’s purpose. Relatives said he already had a one-year-old daughter and was eager to expand his family.

His dreams were cut short shortly after 3am when he was fatally shot while reportedly sitting in a car on Peter Street.

His mother, Edris Stubbs, who lives just a few houses away, said she was asleep when a neighbour woke her with the devastating news.

“They said, ‘that sound like your son get shoot up through the corner’,” she recalled tearfully.

She ran to the scene and was met with a horror no parent should face — her son’s lifeless body in a car behind crime scene tape.

“Oh, that hurt me,” she said. “They ain’t let me see my baby or nothing, and it terrified me. At least you could let me see him, and it hurt. That’s my only boy. My first nine months of pain.”

Hours earlier, the two had shared a lighthearted conversation after Symonette returned from the webshop. Ms Stubbs said they joked about him missing a winning number and talked about buying more numbers the next day. Before leaving, he hugged her and said: “You know you is my love.” She didn’t know it would be the last time she saw or heard from him.

The grief has left her unable to eat or sleep, but she remains hopeful that justice will be served, saying she trusts God will hold the person responsible accountable.

His sister, Danielle Knowles, said she last spoke with him just before his death. He told her: “I gone talk to you later.”

Describing him as funny, sociable, and deeply loyal to his loved ones, she said: “He did video call me every day. We had a good relationship. Me and him were tight.”

The family said they have no idea what could have led to the shooting.

According to Ms Stubbs, Symonette mostly kept to himself, spending time with close friends and his sisters.

She said he dreamed of building a house and naming it “L&D” — short for Leonard and David — and insisted he was not involved in crime.

“I never see no police come to my house to say they were looking for him,” she said.

His death marks the country’s 23rd homicide for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.