HGP Nightly News – The grief inside a Plum Park home on Monday morning was heavy and raw as relatives gathered around a mother struggling to accept that her 27-year-old son would never walk through the door again; especially with just days to Christmas.
Xavier Fraser, a father of two, was shot dead late Sunday night during a shooting at Mercy Wing, Plum Park. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the Georgetown Public Hospital after being rushed there by a friend.
When HGP Nightly News visited the family home hours later, disbelief hung in the air. Fraser’s mother, Thelma Butters, said she was asleep when frantic calls woke her in the early hours of the morning. Moments later, a friend arrived with devastating news. “Well, I was sleeping and then I hear a call inside… about ten, fifteen. When I look out, my son’s friend say, ‘He get shot, He get shot,’” she recalled.
She said she rushed to the hospital, where she was told a version of events that immediately raised doubts. “When I reach the hospital now, the guy tell me he was taking my son to buy a gun and he get shot,” Butters said. “Just as much as I know, I don’t believe my son was going to buy a gun. I believe my son was set up.”
Butters said her son had no reason to be involved in anything illegal. She explained that Fraser worked alongside her on government drainage contracts and also owned a car, which he used to earn money through taxi work. “He had no need to do nothing illegal,” she said. “His mother would support him, his father would support him, and the contracts also. He got his car… he had no need for a gun.”
Residents of the area reported hearing a rapid burst of gunfire late Sunday night. Witnesses said they saw two men fleeing on foot before the wounded man was placed into a car and rushed away.
Meanwhile, Fraser’s father, Nyal Fraser, described his son’s death as a crushing blow that has left the family broken. “It mash up the family,” he said. “Nobody can expect news like this.” He spoke of plans that now feel painfully unfinished, including preparations for a family milestone later this year.
“We were planning my niece’s 40th birthday… talking about maybe going somewhere to celebrate,” he said. “Now everything just gone.” The emotional toll, he said, has been overwhelming.
“Since this thing happened last night, my pressure went right up. I didn’t sleep up to now. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat,” Fraser said. He also questioned the account given by the friend who took his son to the hospital, describing an emotional confrontation inside the emergency room.
“When his sister called him by his name and said, ‘Buddy, tell me the truth,’ he went on his knees and started hollering in the hospital,” Fraser said. Police have confirmed that a 19-year-old man from Plum Park, who was also shot during the incident, was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital and remains in stable condition.
Investigators returned to the scene on Monday morning, reviewing government CCTV footage and gathering additional evidence as they continue their search for the suspect or suspects involved.
Fraser’s body remains at the hospital mortuary, where a post-mortem examination is to be conducted.
For his parents, however, the investigation is only part of the pain. They say they are left not only mourning a son, but searching for truth in a story that does not make sense. As his mother put it quietly, standing among grieving relatives, “I know my son. And I know something is not right.”
