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Face to face with a gunman
published: Sunday | January 7, 2007 <DIV class=KonaBody Ar6jv="true">
Lovelette Brooks, Special Projects Editor
Pastor Glen Samuels
"An encounter with death," is how Pastor Glen Samuels described his experience staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic pistol while returning home to West Gate Hills in Montego Bay about 7:30 one evening.
Samuels, president of the West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Churches, related at a Gleaner Editors' Forum his gut-wrenching, yet, heart-warming experience of coming face to face with a gunman, whose life he was able to transform. The forum was held in response to the upsurge in crime in the western section of the island during the latter part of last year.
Pastor Samuels's encounter happened in one of the quiet, upscale residential areas in the city. He had just got into his car, and was about to drive off, when the muzzle of a gun pressed into his neck, stopped him cold. He was ordered out of his car. Before exiting, and a quick prayer, he decided he would talk with his attacker.
"I looked him squarely in the face, saw he was a young man and noted that he was alone," Pastor Samuels recounted. "I took the chance and said to him as calmly as I could: 'why don't we sit in the car and let's talk this thing through. I am not afraid to die and if you kill me, you are still going to lose.'"
Sharing Life Stories
Intrigued by the invitation, the young man lowered his gun, but kept Pastor Samuels covered - he was taking no chances. He sat nervously in the passenger seat, and for two and a half hours, in the still darkness, both men shared life stories.
"He said to me - and he is just about 28 years old - that he was born in Westmoreland and he moved to Kingston where he grew up, trying to live a decent life. He lost his job and that was his genesis into anti-social behaviour."
"Having nowhere to go, and in an effort to link with his grandmother's heritage, the man moved to Montego Bay, 'captured' a piece of land at Rose Heights, and decided to settle here. Life was not so bad; he had skills and he could work.
"He could tie steel, he could do stuff. He showed me four homes on which he worked in West Gate Hills. he said that after the houses were finished, he went to almost every business place in Montego Bay and couldn't find a job," the pastor recounted.
Without a job, life became extremely difficult for this young man who is also a single parent. Distressed by cries of hunger from his five-year-old daughter, he made a drastic move.
"He went to Salt Spring and rented a gun and I was the first person he came in contact with," Samuels disclosed.
"We made a deal. I said: 'for as long as I live in Montego Bay, you will never go hungry on condition that you turn in the gun and make a commitment to change your life.' He said: 'Rev., I can't give it to you, it has blood on it, but I can promise you I will destroy it.' I said, 'I need evidence,' and he smashed the gun.
"I told him where I lived, I told him where I worked, I gave him my name, my number, everything. I said to him: 'If I am out of the country, come to my house, and just tell my wife I asked you to come.'"
Two years have passed since this encounter, and two years of mentoring and counselling have radically transformed this young man's life.
Transformed Life
Continued Samuels: "He goes to church without any invitation. I could write a book having encountered him and worked out this deal. I said: 'you have friends like yourself and you have discovered that you don't have to live the way you were living.' He loved sports, but did not have money to buy gear. I gave him assistance to buy j
published: Sunday | January 7, 2007 <DIV class=KonaBody Ar6jv="true">
Lovelette Brooks, Special Projects Editor
Pastor Glen Samuels
"An encounter with death," is how Pastor Glen Samuels described his experience staring down the barrel of a semi-automatic pistol while returning home to West Gate Hills in Montego Bay about 7:30 one evening.
Samuels, president of the West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Churches, related at a Gleaner Editors' Forum his gut-wrenching, yet, heart-warming experience of coming face to face with a gunman, whose life he was able to transform. The forum was held in response to the upsurge in crime in the western section of the island during the latter part of last year.
Pastor Samuels's encounter happened in one of the quiet, upscale residential areas in the city. He had just got into his car, and was about to drive off, when the muzzle of a gun pressed into his neck, stopped him cold. He was ordered out of his car. Before exiting, and a quick prayer, he decided he would talk with his attacker.
"I looked him squarely in the face, saw he was a young man and noted that he was alone," Pastor Samuels recounted. "I took the chance and said to him as calmly as I could: 'why don't we sit in the car and let's talk this thing through. I am not afraid to die and if you kill me, you are still going to lose.'"
Sharing Life Stories
Intrigued by the invitation, the young man lowered his gun, but kept Pastor Samuels covered - he was taking no chances. He sat nervously in the passenger seat, and for two and a half hours, in the still darkness, both men shared life stories.
"He said to me - and he is just about 28 years old - that he was born in Westmoreland and he moved to Kingston where he grew up, trying to live a decent life. He lost his job and that was his genesis into anti-social behaviour."
"Having nowhere to go, and in an effort to link with his grandmother's heritage, the man moved to Montego Bay, 'captured' a piece of land at Rose Heights, and decided to settle here. Life was not so bad; he had skills and he could work.
"He could tie steel, he could do stuff. He showed me four homes on which he worked in West Gate Hills. he said that after the houses were finished, he went to almost every business place in Montego Bay and couldn't find a job," the pastor recounted.
Without a job, life became extremely difficult for this young man who is also a single parent. Distressed by cries of hunger from his five-year-old daughter, he made a drastic move.
"He went to Salt Spring and rented a gun and I was the first person he came in contact with," Samuels disclosed.
"We made a deal. I said: 'for as long as I live in Montego Bay, you will never go hungry on condition that you turn in the gun and make a commitment to change your life.' He said: 'Rev., I can't give it to you, it has blood on it, but I can promise you I will destroy it.' I said, 'I need evidence,' and he smashed the gun.
"I told him where I lived, I told him where I worked, I gave him my name, my number, everything. I said to him: 'If I am out of the country, come to my house, and just tell my wife I asked you to come.'"
Two years have passed since this encounter, and two years of mentoring and counselling have radically transformed this young man's life.
Transformed Life
Continued Samuels: "He goes to church without any invitation. I could write a book having encountered him and worked out this deal. I said: 'you have friends like yourself and you have discovered that you don't have to live the way you were living.' He loved sports, but did not have money to buy gear. I gave him assistance to buy j
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