Almost 10 months after being shot in the back outside a city bar, Mark Caesar was executed by gunmen last night, as he stood at his usual Broad and Adeliade streets liming spot.
Caesar, 31, called “Lil Mark,” of St. Stephens Street, Charlestown, died while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital. The man suffered several gunshot wounds about the body in the drive-by attack.
Caesar, a man who was in the area at the time of the shooting explained, was standing “in the grass corner” at the junction of Broad and Adeliade streets when he was attacked. Caesar, according to the man, was there alone and his car was at a nearby car wash. The incident occurred some time around 7pm.
“A light coloured car come driving from St. Stephens Street side…I couldn’t see is who been in this car or how much of them but all I see is that they roll down the street [Broad Street] slow and then I hear the first bullet…is a man that been in de back seat been doing the shooting,” the man further reported.
Several residents said that they heard more than 15 gunshots and at the end of it a badly wounded Caesar was left lying on the corner and his attackers escaped along Adeliade Street. Caesar reportedly sustained gunshot wounds to the head, hand, legs and other parts of the body. “Dem riddle he,” another man stated.
The car transporting Caesar’s attackers, reports suggest, was seen moving north along St. Stephens Street and would’ve driven by Caesar’s house before turning west on to Broad Street.
“From de time that car hit Broad Street dem woulda spot he [Caesar],” a resident, who requested anonymity, said.
After the rapid discharge of gunfire the vehicle then turned north on to Adeliade Street and used a route from there to escape. Police up to press time had not issued a statement.
However, when this newspaper visited the Broad and Adeliade streets scene, investigators were still present processing the crime scene and the area had been cordoned off. Several residents and relatives were gathered there.
“These men [the attackers] know who they de coming for,” a friend, who usually limed at the Charlestown area with Caesar, told Stabroek News at the scene. “This liming on the corner thing was an everyday thing and everybody does know where to find ‘Lil Mark’ at this time of the night.”
Shortly before his demise, the friend said, Caesar had been speaking with another close associate. Minutes before the car appeared and the gunfire started the friend reportedly left to buy a phone card at a nearby shop.
“Normally ‘Lil Mark’ does be standing at that corner with a crew…is a good thing nobody else ain been there or else they woulda get shoot up too.”
Meanwhile, at the hospital the dead man’s mother, Donna Aaron, and other relatives were in tears. The woman said that she was at home when Caesar was killed. The woman said she heard the gunshots and shortly after someone came to her house shouting that “Lil Mark get shoot up”. She declined to comment further. Other relatives declined to comment when asked why anyone would want Caesar dead.
On December 19 last year, Caesar and another man, Hewley Nicholas Barker, were shot outside Roopa’s Bar by an off-duty policeman. Barker was fatally wounded in the confrontation, which ensued after a policeman tried to warn a group of men about their disorderly behavior. One of the men reportedly pushed him aside and then ran away, later returning with Barker and Caesar. The men reportedly assaulted the policeman, although he identified himself as a member of the Guyana Police Force. During the confrontation, two of the men pulled firearms and fired at the policeman who returned fire, fatally wounding Barker and injuring Caesar, the police had said. The other man managed to escape. The policeman, an aide to Police Commissioner Henry Greene, was subsequently cleared of wrong-doing in the case.
Caesar is the 82nd man to be murdered this year. His execution style killing joins the unsolved cases of Vibert Weekes and Nicholas Hoyte who were executed in January on Robb Street and in Alberttown, respectively. Crime Chief Seelall Persaud recently told Stabroek News that police have recorded nine execution style killings for the year.
