Popular Dangriga Resident Gunned Down at Riverside!

Tonight, as investigators in Punta Gorda continue piecing together Saturday’s deadly ambush that left two men dead on Queen Street, another community in the south is grappling with its own tragedy. In Dangriga, the family of well‑known resident Bernaldo “Sparrow” Gorosica is mourning his murder after he was gunned down near the Riverside area on Friday night. Two communities, two brutal killings, and tonight, families in both towns are demanding answers as police work to track down those responsible.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

A familiar and well‑known face in Dangriga has been silenced by gunfire. Just after nightfall on Friday, calm shattered in the Riverside area when thirty‑nine‑year‑old Bernaldo Gorosica, known to many as ‘Sparrow’, was shot and killed. Residents tell us they heard as many as ten gunshots ring out, several striking Gorosica and leaving him dead at the scene. Just moments earlier, his common‑law wife, Shantel Waight, had been preparing a meal for her family, when she received the devastating news that would change their lives forever.

 

Shantel Waight, Common-Law-Wife of Deceased

“I deh home the eat. I just done cook. I done cook wa lavish meal. I deh home the sit down the eat. And then I di get different calls from all kind of people and I say, aww man, I the eat. I want sit down and eat. I never expect I would have this, get this call bout Sparrow. Never. I would, you would hear Sparrow de out deh the do he other else lee thing with fi he girls but fi hear Sparrow da wa problem man. never. So when they call me and they tell me girl, Sparrow deh pan this ground. I da like how you mean? Now my intention was I was supposed to run out there the expect my baby pa get knocked down or I find my baby pa just hurt where we could rush he da the hospital, not knowing I wa see my baby pa pan the ground like that. They bwai de dark! And their days darker coming because this unfair. This da pass stupidness now.”

 

His common-law wife, Shantel Waight, says Gorosica was known for his generosity, often putting others before himself. It’s a trait that makes his sudden death even harder to accept.

 

Shantel Waight

“Everywhere Sparrow goh, Sparrow the laugh. Everywhere, everybody weh see Sparrow know that big smile weh he have pan fi he face. Sometimes he ah deh home with me, his friends they need something – this bow wa come home and this boy wa say he want. Them time I wa be like Spar, you don’t even know if people wah di look out for you like how you the look out fi them and he’s so nice.”

 

His sister remembers him as charismatic and full of life, a ladies’ man whose nickname, ‘Sparrow,’ taken from his pet dog, stayed with him for years.

 

Monique Gorosica, Sister of Deceased

“He had this habit of coming and jumping in my lap like a baby. And he would lick my face and I would tell him, boy, stop licking my face. And he say, you say I da dog sis and so he would lick my face and those are the things we are going to remember about him the most. He was just this joyful person, always smiling. Many people, if you talk to many people in the tongue, they will tell you that was him. He was always cracking a joke.”

 

While the family mourns, investigators continue to piece together what led to the fatal shooting.

 

ASP Stacy Smith, Staff Officer

“Gorosica was walking along South Riverside Street at the aforementioned date and time when an individual who was travelling in a grey, silver like Chevrolet vehicle, without license plate fired several shots in his direction. A police operation was immediately launched by the QR Team personnel and this led to a silver Chevrolet being pursued and intercepted near the outskirts of Dangriga Town. A male person was observed exiting the vehicle and making good his escape in the bushy terrain of that area. The vehicle has since been impounded and the identity of the registered owner has been ascertained. One person who police believe can assist with this investigation has been detained and another individual is being sought in connection with this ongoing investigation.”

 

Police are yet to announce an arrest, but say their investigation is active, and they are pursuing several leads. For a family now planning a funeral instead of a future, answers cannot come fast enough.

 

Monique Gorosica

“For us, vengeance is not ours. Vengeance is not ours. Vengeance is for the Lord. And whether we get earthly justice or not, which I wish we do get earthly justice, I know that God that we serve, he’s not asleep. And we will get through this together as a family. We will get through this. It hurts. It hurts. It really hurts.”

 

Shantel Waight

“People see.  People like, you would ah hard to find somebody say, oh, I see this or I see that.  Many people want the hide they self the protect they self but we wa get we justice.  The God we serve da wa mighty God. We will get fi we justice.”

 

Tonight, the Riverside community remains shaken and on edge after yet another life is claimed by violence. As police continue the search for those responsible, the family of Bernaldo ‘Sparrow’ Gorosica is left clinging to memories, and facing a painful reality: five children who will now grow up without their father. Shane Williams for News Five.