Less than a month after he basked in the glory of his daughter, Alecia, being named Jamaica's 2010 Rhodes Scholar, Patrick Johns was brutally killed and his body dumped.

Johns' body was found in Trench Town, St Andrew, last Friday, the same day his family reported him missing.

According to police reports, about 3:15 p.m. on Friday, residents in Trench Town heard explosions and summoned the police. When the police arrived, they found his body with gunshot wounds on Asquith Street.

His vehicle is believed to have been stolen.

Family coping

A close friend of the family said they were coping despite the tragic circumstances.

The friend, who like others requested anonymity, described Johns, who worked in the real-estate industry, as a devoted family man who gave 150 per cent of his heart and soul to a trio of daughters.

"I think he was one of the most caring parents. He was a family man; he was very involved, very jovial, helpful and friendly. He was also heavily involved in church. Anything relating to his daughters, he was there."

Another friend of the family who went to music lessons with his daughters described the killing as senseless and indicative of how degenerate Jamaican society had become.

"The man's family was all right, the man's family was doing good, his daughter just got that award and then you hear something like this. It shows you how messed up Jamaica is."

More than 1,500 Jamaicans have been killed in 2009.

Alecia Johns, the 2010 Rhodes Scholar, will read for a Bachelor of Civil Law, a master's degree, at Oxford University in England next year.

Anyone with information on the killing can call the police at 119 or the Denham Town CIB at 923-0629