There was a sizeable crowd yesterday morning at the Brickdam Cathedral as mourners paid their last respects to Ricardo Rodrigues, who was riddled with bullets on Monday afternoon as he sat with friends at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) in the city.
Members of the media were not allowed into the church for the funeral service and viewing, which lasted for a little more than an hour.
At the end of the service, a white casket bearing Rodrigues remains was lifted into a waiting hearse and transported to his house. Outside the cathedral, several teary-eyed women were seen boarding vehicles. Several close associates of Rodrigues were also in attendance.
Rodrigues had close ties with convicted drug lord Shaheed Roger Khan, who is currently serving a sentence in a US jail. Over the years until the time of his death, Rodrigues had been implicated in drugs and gun related crimes but was never charged.
Days before his death, police released him on station bail 24 hours after he turned himself in for questioning in connection with a cache of arms and ammunition that was found in Lethem. In that case, police had issued a wanted bulletin for Rodrigues and his cousin Clive King. King remains at large, with reports indicating that he is hiding out in Brazil.
Reports are that just before 3pm on Monday, a group of gunmen, numbering about four or five, walked into the sports bar and shot Rodrigues, 40, called ‘Fatman,’ who had addresses at Bel Air Gardens, and Bel Air Village, Lamaha Gardens. Three other persons, Aubrey Henry, Michael Hopkinson and Jean Le Blanc, were wounded in the shooting and they were rushed to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where they were later admitted.
Henry was yesterday discharged and the two others are listed as being in stable condition.
The killing according to sources may have been linked to a “weapons for drugs” trade that went sour.
