Slain Tourist’s Brother Recalls ‘Great Guy’

As the families of Tristan Charlier and Leon Roberts come together in grief, the circumstances surrounding their deaths are still shrouded in mystery.
The two best friends, who attended P.S. 86 in Jamaica together, were murdered last Wednesday in St. Thomas, where they had traveled to attend a wedding, and officials on the island remain baffled by the crime a week later.
“We have no idea, and I don’t think the police do either,” said Saman “Sammy” Dashti, Tristan’s brother, who was also in St. Thomas. “They knew no one in St. Thomas except the people from New York. Right now, they [the authorities] don’t have any suspects.”
According to Dashti, who returned from the Virgin Islands on Friday, the two friends arrived in St. Thomas on Tuesday and later that night had gone out with others.
“Everyone called it a night around midnight,” Dashti told The Queens Courier in an interview. “But Tristan and Leon stayed out. Their bodies were found at 2:30 a.m. [near a bus stop]. No confrontation was noted.”
Police on the island have a video surveillance tape from a local convenience store, Tiger Mart, but no concrete evidence or leads, according to Dashti. Spent shell casings were found at the scene of the crime.
But according to a friend who had been drinking with Charlier and Roberts, the former had been hassled in a bar only two hours before being riddled with bullets.
Mourning his brother, Dashti recalls the 24-year-old as a “great guy” who “loved sports and dealt with people in all diverse circles.”
Shocked by the tragedy, he continued, “It’s a very awkward time to mourn — it’s a four-fold tragedy. It was unexpected, confusing and traumatic, wrapped up with another family, and we have to deal with the press and police [in the Caribbean]. I myself am looking forward to the wake so I can clear my mind. I know that this was uncalled for and inexplicable.”
As the investigation continues, the two families, both trying to cope with the loss, have become closer as the bodies of their sons are flown home.
“Leon’s mother is devastated and his father is at his wit’s end as we deal with this,” said Dashti.
“You just go with your anger and refocus on what happened, focus on the pain,” he continued.
A wake will be held for Charlier later this week.
toni@queenscourier.com