‘God got her’ - Grieving father clings to faith after Queen’s student killed in home invasion

John Pollard remembers vividly the moment his university sweetheart, Tamra, told him they were going to be parents.

The couple had met at the prestigious Howard University in the USA, where love quickly blossomed.

"She was a beautiful baby girl. She was born in Washington, DC, and she came out nice and pretty. Everybody was just happy," Pollard said.

That perfect joy has now been eclipsed by unbearable grief. Jada, 18, a sixth-form student at The Queen's School in St Andrew, dreamed of walking in the footsteps of family members who have pursued careers in law. Her father said she had approached her future with determination and grace. But in the stillness of early Monday morning, those dreams were violently stolen when she was gunned down in her home during a brazen invasion in Smokey Vale, St Andrew.

The tragedy has left a community in mourning and a family shattered. Minister of education, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, described her killing as "shocking" and "heartbreaking".

According to police reports, the horror unfolded about 1:40 a.m. when a gunman broke into the residence. After robbing Pollard's mother of her handbag, her cries for help stirred Jada from her room. She stepped into the hallway, only to be met with fatal gunfire. A single bullet to the head silenced her forever. Despite being rushed to hospital, Jada was pronounced dead on arrival.

For Pollard, the loss feels like a hole carved deep into his soul. Yet, he clings to his faith, believing his daughter's spirit has returned to God.

"I believe the good die young, and she was one of them," he said.

"I think God was like, 'Come on, you coming back up here'," her father told THE WEEKEND STAR as he searched for personal comfort amid his grief.

"I honestly, to God, believe that she is with God. She was dedicated by my father, who is a preacher in the United States, and she got baptised later. Her mother and grandmother would tell me that sometimes they would see Jada's room light on late, and she would be reading the Bible. She would place Bible verses on her mirror. I believe God got her," Pollard said.

Jada was the only child for her mother, and the eldest of Pollard's four children. To him, she was more than a daughter; she was his joy, his walking testimony of love.

"I never had to yell at my daughter, she was just a great child," he said.

"She was always joyful and we prayed all the time. Even as a teenager, she was very Christian and humble. I use to tell her when she was really little that make-up is for clowns, and she was really beautiful, so she never put on any hair extensions or so on. She was a very natural, beautiful girl who loved herself and others very much," the grieving father recalled.

The last time Pollard held his daughter was last summer when she visited the USA to spend time with him.

"We had a ball," he recalled. "She went golfing with her uncle and she just had a blast. The entire family had met up for my mother's birthday, and everyone was so happy," Pollard said.

Hours before her death, Jada had sent her father a message on TikTok, at 11:34 p.m. Sunday.

"She shared a post with me, which was nothing unusual. I went to bed and answered her back in the morning, but I didn't get a response. That was nothing unusual as persons don't usually have their phone in their hands all the time," he said.

But he never imagined it would be the last message he would ever exchange with her.

Later that morning there was a pounding on his door. His mother's trembling voice delivered the unthinkable; Jada was gone.

"She was about to cry and I say, 'What's wrong mom'?, and she said 'Jada is dead'," Pollard.

"I started wailing and punching stuff. I never heard myself crying like that before, it was terrible. I have been doing a lot of praying, but a lot of crying as well, and it is like something ripped my heart out. But, I know that she was a good young lady and I know that God got her," Pollard said.