By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

KENNETH Bain Jr was just starting his car for work on Wednesday, a quiet, routine moment that was shattered by violence when he was shot dead just weeks before he planned to ask his long-time girlfriend to marry him.

The 32-year-old, a newly promoted ramp supervisor at Flamingo Air Nassau, was ambushed outside his home around 6am and later died in hospital, becoming the country’s 26th murder victim for the year.

“He was going to surprise her with a nice engagement but it wasn’t to be,” said Evalna Nesbitt, his future mother-in-law. “But he’ll always be my son. He’ll always be here, always being in all our heart.”

Police say a white Japanese-model vehicle pulled up to Bain’s residence on Yamacraw Hill Road. 

A man exited, exchanged brief words with Bain, then shot him before fleeing. Blood stained the pavement near Bain’s parked car, which bore a bullet hole on the driver’s side.

Paramedics took the victim to hospital, but he died from his injuries.

When The Tribune visited the scene yesterday, Bain’s car sat parked outside with a bullet hole visible and blood stains on the driver’s side. Relatives, sombre and silent, gathered nearby.

His father, Kenneth Bain Sr, said the pain of losing his only son with his wife is unbearable.

“I ain’t get much sleep,” he said. “You know, going to bed 11 o’clock, waking up three in the morning. Like Luther Vandross say, I never get to dance with my father again. He’ll never get to dance with me again because he’s gone.”

“My birthday was on the 31st of March and he got the first piece of cake.”

Bain Jr lived with Ms Nesbitt for eight years. She said he had just been promoted at Flamingo Air Nassau, where he worked as a supervisor ramp agent. The company has released a statement expressing condolences.

“He don’t even hang out. He don’t even drink,” she said. “I’m talking decent, respectable young man. It’s a sin to see something like that happening to him because he really didn’t deserve it. I hope and I pray they get justice for him, because I will not stop.”

“I would if I have to picket by myself, to the courts, to the wherever. I will never let this die because you know why? He’ll never die for the type of person he was.”

Ms Nesbitt said Bain and a co-worker were starting the car and preparing to leave for work when he was attacked.

“They wasn’t sitting outside conversating,” she said. “They was getting ready, starting the car, warming up to leave for work.”

Asked if Bain recently expressed concern about any issues, she said: “I can’t say that because it’s now an open investigation. I can’t tell you what he complained about, what he told us. I can’t do that. I’ll be interfering, but we do have a few stuff.”

Police investigations continue.