A 24-year-old Guyanese man was gunned down in Cayenne, French Guiana on Monday under unknown circumstances.
Dead is Troy James, a construction worker who resided at Lot 71 Norton Street, Lodge, whenever he was in the Guyana.
- Troy James
Yesterday his relatives were in a state of deep grief and a black flag was mounted at the front of his home. They said they were making arrangements to have the body returned here for burial.
His mother, Rose Ann Garraway called `Rosie’, told reporters that she received a telephone call from one of her son’s female friends around 7 pm on Monday informing her that he had just been shot and killed.
Garraway said she asked the woman if she was sure and she replied that she was standing over his body and “if you see how he dead, dead”.
Garraway, a mother of eight, with James being her second child, said she passed out in her state of shock and stressed that she never expected that she would have received such dreadful news. The man‘s relatives have since received confirmation of his death from the French Consulate in Guyana.
According to James’ uncle, Patrick King, the information they got was that James was shot dead. This newspaper was initially told that one of James’s siblings was shot dead and another man wounded, but King said that they were told that it was James who was killed and there were no reports of anyone being hospitalized.
Stabroek News was told that James had been working in French Guiana for the past few years and would return home periodically.
His mother said she had warned him repeatedly about going to that country. “I told him that I don’t like there for him,” she said, sorrow and heartache evident in her voice.
She said whenever he was returning to that country, where he worked in construction, he would slip out when she was asleep so that she could not see him leaving.
Garraway said the last time she saw her son alive was when he returned home about two months ago.
She said also he was the father of two and that his younger child resides in French Guiana. She described him as a peaceful and loving person.
Meanwhile, King said that after receiving the news, he and Garraway went to the French Consulate where it was confirmed. The man’s relatives said that they are clueless as to what might have sparked the tragedy.
Garraway and King are currently making efforts to travel to French Guiana to retrieve the body for burial here.
