MANDEVILLE, Manchester — His relatives and neighbours on Bethel Street in Greenvale, just outside Mandeville, are struggling to come to grips with the death of six-year-old Shani Olacre on Wednesday evening.

Reports from the police and the community say Shani, who was due to enter Grade Two at the Mandeville Primary School next month, was with an older sister on Bethel Street close to their home when he was hit by a car as he ran across the road.

As fate would have it, Shani’s father, identified by police as Sian Olacre, was shot and killed during an alleged shoot-out with police at Grey Ground in Manchester earlier this year.

“I am trying to cope,” was all the child’s griefstricken mother, Shauna-Kay McKenzie could say when contacted by telephone.

Residents of the community, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, alleged yesterday that the driver was going too fast.

The police are continuing their investigations.