Arnold would’ve turned 18 on Thursday if police hadn’t shot him!

This week was an especially heart-rending time for the family of deceased Arnold Joseph. It is now over eight months since the 17-year-old was fatally shot by police in Castries. The fifth-form student of the Entrepot Secondary School would have turned 18 on Thursday. Joanna Joseph said her son always looked forward to his birthday. She recalled that on his 16th birthday, he chose to embrace his love for DJ-ing and requested that she have his stage name, Selector Jay, printed on some of his clothing.  She remembered him going to school dressed all in red.  Joanna, who is employed with a cruise ship company, couldn’t be with Arnold for his 17th. He spent the day with friends at the beach.

“He was looking forward to turning 18,” she said. “We planned to have either a big party or go on a boat ride with his friends.”  She recalled the times he’d call her to talk about his plans. “He would say, ‘Mommy, I’m doing this; oh mommy, I’ll wear that!’ He would send me a picture so I could see what he wore at a party or a function. I miss those times.”  

The impact of Arnold’s death on his little sister Vanya worries Joanna. This week, together with her father, Vanya painted her brother’s tomb. Joanna said that Vanya tends to hide her emotions, and she won’t open up — not even to counsellors. In August she visited Antigua with an aunt. “She was feeling so bad that she was travelling and her brother could not be with her,” she said.  

In Joanna’s telling, Arnold had set himself several goals, all of which were snatched away from him without explanation. He was looking forward to attending the Centre For Adolescent Renewal & Education to learn a trade. After this, he planned on enrolling at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. 

“It wasn’t all about music for him,” she said. “He loved theatre arts; he would have been a great actor. He loved horses; he wanted to be a jockey. Who knows how far this young man could have gone? They took all of that away from us.”