The days have been sad at Mona Primary School since a student was brutally murdered along with his mother at their Mona Common home in St Andrew, Monday night.

Twelve-year-old Micah Bernard and 42-year-old Angella Longmore were killed after gunmen forced open a window to the house occupied by the two and opened fire.

The incident brought shockwaves across the school population just after members returned from mid-term break.

On Wednesday, students and teachers placed freshly picked roses on to the desk and chair once occupied by Micah.

His class teacher described him as jovial with much potential and talent.

"He, along with other members of the class, was working on a song to be recorded, but it didn't get to happen," Sonia Russell-Smith said with a cracking voice as tears settled in her eyes.

Top student

Russell-Smith added that Micah was one of the children who she was expecting to do well in the Grade Six Achievement Test, which he was expected to sit this school year.

"He had big dreams and he was working hard to achieve them. He wanted to pass for Mona High and he would have made it because he was very determined," Russell-Smith noted.

She said with the type of support that the youngster got from his mother he was bound for success.

"His mother walked him to school every morning since he was in grade one and she never stopped," the teacher said, sighing continually throughout the interview.

"She always took the time to find out about his performance in class."

His best friend and classmate, Jermaine Simms, told The Gleaner that it would take a while for him to get over Micah's death.

"It is sad to know that he died this way. He was kind and loving to his friends and we miss him a lot," Simms said.

'Wish it were a dream'

Principal Wilton Bishop, who was no less distraught, said as he tried to grapple with the situation, he wished it were a dream.

Meanwhile, it was no different in the Mona Common community where family and friends were shaken by the double-murder.

"I am just holding on to faith. The two were loved by everyone and so the community members are highly traumatised," said Longmore's mother, Nyce Jones.

Anika Brown, a friend of the family, said the deaths came as a surprise in the area as Longmore and her son were always smiling with others and she could not recall them doing anything wrong.

Longmore, who worked as a labourer on construction sites, has left behind two adult children who are also fatherless.

nadisha.hunter@gleanerjm.com