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  • 2 years ago
Jayden Reyes is being remembered by loved ones as a young man who was ambitious, intent on giving back to his community and with the short life that he got, made a huge impact.


At his final farewell, a relative of Reyes called for people to take back their communities and to stop showcasing gang activity on social media.


Alicia Boucher has the details.
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:06 My name is Jarell.
00:08 And Jaden was not just my friend, but my brother,
00:13 a leader, a therapist, a mentor.
00:17 He was all that we needed in this life.
00:23 That's Jaleel Samuel, a close friend of 21-year-old Jaden
00:27 Akeel Reyes, forced to read a part of the eulogy Reyes's
00:31 brother, Jasani Jarell Reyes, would have delivered had he,
00:34 too, not been shot and wounded when gunmen,
00:36 after attacking them in Gonzales, Belmont,
00:39 followed them to the Port of Spain General Hospital,
00:42 where they killed his brother.
00:43 Jaden Reyes never got the chance to become the pediatric surgeon
00:47 that he wanted to be.
00:49 At his celebration of life's service,
00:51 Candace James Marshall, who also delivered a eulogy,
00:54 said Reyes's potential shone early in his life.
00:57 And at six months old, he climbed a burglar proof
01:00 and reached close to the ceiling of his family's home.
01:03 He was stuck and wasn't sure how to come down.
01:06 Based on his progress, it was no surprise when he
01:08 started walking at eight months.
01:11 The strength of character and determination
01:13 remained as he grew and manifested inside and outside
01:17 of the classroom.
01:18 His discipline continued at Rose Roboy's RC,
01:21 where he got a brown belt in karate,
01:24 and at St. Mary's College, where he attained eight distinctions
01:27 at CSEC and eight passes at CAPE, which then landed him
01:31 in medical school.
01:32 His mother recounts hardly seeing him study.
01:36 It seemed natural for him to retain and process information
01:40 quickly.
01:41 Reyes was said to be industrious, always looking
01:44 for work, and had recently been offered a full-time job
01:47 at an insurance company, which he turned down
01:49 to go to Jamaica to continue his medical pursuits.
01:53 Claire Pascal was his junior Achiever Advisor in 2018
01:57 and remembers, among his qualities, his honesty.
02:01 Jaden was delivering a product for me.
02:04 And he watched me dead in the eye and said, boss,
02:09 we had to do better with the quality of that.
02:11 His love of football led him to organize
02:13 a tournament in his community of Gonzales in March of this year.
02:17 He understood the importance of giving back.
02:19 Especially within the community, doing volunteer work
02:22 at the St. Dominic's home in Belmont, the Gonzales Homework
02:26 Center, just right around the corner.
02:29 His volunteer work extended also to the Red Cross
02:32 and the pediatric wards of the Mount Hope Children's Hospital.
02:35 James Marshall believes the violence
02:38 Cooch faced in the country is because of a lack of respect
02:40 for authority, life, and God.
02:43 Things seem to be getting worse.
02:45 After Jaden's passing, we saw the violence
02:49 had continued almost all week.
02:51 But you know what?
02:52 We must take back our country.
02:54 How?
02:55 Not by picking up arms and ammunition,
02:58 but simply, if I can suggest, answering the call.
03:02 She says a part of that call is not
03:04 to give gangsters the social media power and attention they
03:07 seek as a tool of recruitment.
03:10 Such as the recently highlighted and widely shared list,
03:13 Christmas list.
03:15 We are assisting these bad elements to thrive.
03:17 In my view, we are helping them to solicit
03:20 or already at risk youth.
03:23 Let's start our own list.
03:25 A list of achievers and positive influences
03:27 within our communities.
03:29 So much good exists.
03:31 Let's continue to promote it even more.
03:34 In praising his parents, Ansel and Alicia Rees,
03:37 for the job they did in raising their son,
03:40 loved ones said, "Rees left a legacy
03:43 to emulate amid the bitter reality
03:45 that his life was snuffed out in the community
03:48 that he lived for."
03:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:53 Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
03:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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