– daughter injured
Gunmen executed a Charlestown man at Laing Avenue last night in what appeared to be a well-planned drive-by attack.
Dead is George Barton called ‘Burlin’, 48, of 34 Howes Street, Charlestown. Barton’s teenage daughter Anika Barton, who was with him at the time of the attack, sustained a gunshot wound to her right leg. She was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where she was receiving treatment up to press time.
The young lady reportedly has three bullets lodged in her right leg, which was swollen last night. She was confined to a wheelchair and was awaiting treatment when this newspaper arrived at the hospital and spoke with her.
Relating the incident to members of the media, she recalled that while she and her father were walking, four men in a white car pulled up and called out his name. One of them, she said, then shouted, “shoot him.”
On learning that her father had died, Anika Barton screamed and wailed loudly, calling for her mother to be at her side in the treatment room. Relatives of the girl said that they believed the men deliberately meant to injure and not kill her, since they believed that the gunmen could have easily done so if they wanted to. The young woman said the men made a remark, which indicated that they knew she was her father’s daughter.
No information was forthcoming last night with regard to a possible motive but from all accounts, the men might have been trailing Barton since he left his Charlestown home. They crept up on him from the opposite end of Laing Avenue, which is a long stretch of road running east to west from Cemetery Road, East La Penitence to Hunter Street, Yarrow Dam.
Barton entered Laing Avenue from the western end with his daughter and was only a short distance in when a white car, as described by eyewitnesses, drove up alongside them approaching from the eastern end and opened fire, around 8.10 pm. Barton was shot around three to four times. The car then sped off heading west.
Several persons in the area who claimed to have witnessed the shooting were unable to say how many persons were in the drive-by car. A few claimed to have seen three individuals in the vehicle while others reported seeing four persons.
The shots that killed Barton rang out deafeningly in Laing Avenue and were also heard in the nearby areas of West Ruimveldt and Middle Road but they were initially dismissed by residents as squibs. Barton’s daughter’s screams alerted persons of the shooting and within minutes an uncontrollable crowd had gathered, many eager to get a glimpse of the body that was lying on the road.
“Is Burlin boy! Is Burlin. Who would down a man like Burlin boy?” one man said as he got close to the body and recognised Barton.
Shortly after this, two women turned up and they immediately burst into tears upon seeing the dead man. One identified herself only as Simone, the reputed wife of Barton. The woman said she had no idea he had even left home since it was only a few minutes before she had a conversation with him. After they spoke, she said, she was under the impression Barton was downstairs of the home fetching water.
She emotionally related that Barton was a good father and repeatedly asked who could have done such a thing. Simone said her husband was not working but that he would do jobs on and off. She said he had no problems with anyone and she had no idea who would want him dead.
Police arrived on the scene within minutes of the attack and managed to keep the large crowd at bay. One man, who was identified as Barton’s brother, managed to breach the cordon and he ran to the dead Barton, touching him in the face.
Many persons were weeping on the scene while others expressed concern over Barton’s young daughter witnessing her father’s execution.
“Is how they could kill a man in front he child? These people cruel bad,” a woman said before leaving in a hurry to get to the hospital.
