Young and ambitious – Brother speaks highly of murdered employee of prime minister’s office
October 25, 2019Life will never be the same for two children left fatherless following the murder of 30-year-old Vaughn Rennalls, who worked as an accountant at the Office of the Prime Minister up to the time he was gunned down on August 16.
He was laid to rest on Saturday, October 19, in his community of Above Rocks, St Catherine.
At the time of his death, Vaughn was a student at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC), pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration.
He also was applying to become a Justice of the Peace to serve his community, his family said.
Vaughn’s elder brother – Francis Rennalls Jnr, declared: “We can only imagine how much more he could have accomplished if his life wasn’t cut short… Vaughn never sat back and became complacent… My brother was a business man who saw opportunity and made the most of it.”
Vaughn’s penchant for self-improvement is perhaps best reflected in the education journey that eventually took him to UCC.
He attended Alpha Infant School, then Jessie Ripoll Primary where he did the G-SAT and was placed at Gainstead High School.
After leaving high school, Vaughn thought of learning a skill and so he went to HEART Trust|NTA where he did masonry and steel fabrication.
He eventually returned to HEART and studied business.
Vaughn later went to the Institute of Academic Excellence (IAE) to learn computer repairs.
When he completed that course, he went to the Prime Minister’s Office on job experience, and was later employed there as an accountant.
“Vaughn was, from the beginning to the end, a very intelligent and hardworking young man,” his brother said while delivering the eulogy inside St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church at Above Rocks.
“From childhood, through school and other institutions, Vaughn worked to finance his education. Throughout his career, he was always on the lookout for new opportunities. Vaughn had a very active mind, a wonderful memory, and a great thirst for knowledge.”
Francis further eulogized his brother as a man who cared for others, and was firm on principles.
“My brother lived a principled life underpinned by a strong sense of right and wrong. He spoke out when it really counted; his strong principles did not allow him to let something wrong stand unchallenged.”
Francis noted that the bereaved family has a plethora of unanswered regarding Vaughn’s demise.
“We are shocked, scared and angered at the unfairness and senselessness that took him from us. We seek to make sense of this – to understand the reason this happened…” Francis further told the congregation. “We will remember you Vaughn through the many people still left behind whose lives you touched so positively.”
Vaughn was shot dead on Parks Road in the Lawrence Tavern area of St Andrew shortly before 10PM on Friday, August 16.
He reportedly went to Parks Road to purchase jerk chicken after dropping his mother at home in Above Rocks.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force said another man was also shot and wounded in the incident.
It explained that Vaughn and the wounded man were standing among a group of people when a gunman rode up on a bicycle and opened fire, shooting the two victims several times.
The Constant Spring Criminal Investigations Bureau is in charge of the probe.
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