A bodyguard of the murdered Ricardo Rodrigues was himself gunned down yesterday afternoon in Queenstown leaving the public stunned at the brazenness with which the killers are operating and the police apparently clueless.
The volley of bullets fired at Marlon Osborne, 33, known as `Trini’ on Laluni Street also left students of a nearby school terrified.
Police have one man in custody and according to investigators the two executions are linked.
Osborne also known as `Country’ and of a city address was pronounced dead at 14:55 hours at the Georgetown Public Hospital while undergoing emergency surgery at the Main Operating Theatre, the hospital said, adding that the man sustained gunshot wounds to the right side of his abdomen, back and scrotal area. It is unclear how many times in total Osborne was shot.
Police in a press release said that the shooting occurred around 1400 hours as Osborne was driving motor car PNN 9922 but based on the information from persons near the scene rapid gunfire erupted around 1255 hours. According to the release the initial investigations revealed that gunshots were discharged at the man from another vehicle which drove off.
At least two different types of spent shells were recovered at the scene.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene the front of the car was parked on the bridge of a yard that Osborne had exited seconds before he was shot while the rear was on the roadway. He had been reversing the vehicle when the cars with the gunmen drove up.
Damage to the front windscreen of the car was visible. Police blocked off the area to allow crime scene experts to process the scene. Traffic was prevented from passing.
From reports given it appears that Osborne was being followed by two cars. The occupants apparently waited patiently until he exited the address he had visited and being unhindered by traffic they opted to make their move as he was preparing to leave.
Persons in the area told Stabroek News that around 12:55pm they heard rapid fire and when they peeked out they saw a Toyota Allion and another vehicle, a Toyota 192 speeding away and Osborne’s vehicle, PNN 9922, parked with the driver’s side of the door opened. The man was slumped across the steering wheel and it seems as if he had brought the vehicle in a parking position before collapsing as he did not veer into the nearby fences.
Persons nearby pulled the badly injured Osborne from the vehicle and rushed him to the Georgetown Hospital.
Josel’s
Students of the Josel’s School, a privately run Seventh-day Adventist school at the corner of Laluni and Peter Rose streets were crying loudly when this newspaper arrived as scores of frantic parents rushed to collect them.
Headmaster of the school, Will Campbell told this newspaper that they were having a staff meeting when loud gunshots rang out and they quickly told the children to drop to the floor. He said they hurried some children who were in the yard into the building. Campbell expressed the view that because the children are very terrified, the school administration would have to arrange counseling sessions for them.
Pastor Stanton Adams said that his 11 year old daughter who attends the institution was grazed by “fragments of a bullet” that entered the upper flat of the two-storey building. He said that the child was not seriously hurt but was terrified. She was taken to the Georgetown Hospital for medical attention.
At the hospital, relatives of Osborne were hostile when approached and demanded that media operatives put away cameras. One man attempted to take away this reporter’s phone.
“Step back, no camera,” the man shouted as he attempted to snatch the phone. Another man also shoved his hand in this reporter’s face.
Past
A police official told this newspaper that while never convicted, Osborne had a past due to his association with Rodrigues. Rodrigues is a close associate of self-confessed drug lord Roger Khan who is presently serving time in a US jail.
According to Stabroek News’ record, back in June, 2003 the then 24-year- old Osborne was arrested by an army patrol in the Buxton/Friendship area along with two men after two automatic pistols and live rounds were found on them.
The army had explained in a statement that the trio was seen by a GDF patrol which was part of Operation Saline Solution Two acting in a suspicious manner while travelling in a black Honda along the Railway Embankment in Buxton.
The vehicle was intercepted at the junction of Friendship Middle Walk and the Public Road where a search was conducted. One of the men was in possession of a 45 Smith and Wesson Automatic Pistol with eight matching live rounds while Osborne was found with a nine millimeter Sigsauer Automatic Pistol and 15 matching round. No weapon was found on the other man.
Connected
Security sources say the execution-style attack is clear evidence of fallout from the events surrounding the execution of Rodrigues earlier this month. A Canadian who was injured in the attack on Rodrigues also died mysteriously in the Georgetown Hospital last Friday.
The police source said that there is information circulating that members of one gang killed the two men. Because of his close association, the source said that Osborne may have been aware of what led to Rodrigues death.
Critics have said police made no attempts to track down Rodrigues’ killers. The police source admitted that investigators should have done some more ground work on the Rodrigues killing but noted that this might have been deliberately done because of the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Stabroek News understands that Osborne was questioned by police in connection with the slaying of his boss.
Rodrigues called `Fatman’ was shot multiple times at GMR&SC’s Pitt Stop Restaurant where he was at the time a patron on October 15. Three other persons, Aubrey Henry, Michael Hopkinson and Le Blanc, were also wounded.
His killing came just days after being released on bail over the unearthing of an arms cache in Lethem. On October 1st at Tabatinga, Lethem, police found four automatic rifles along with four magazines and 389 rounds of 7.62×39 calibre ammunition; six M-16 rifles along with two magazines and 74 matching rounds; two shrapnel hand grenades; an Icon VHF radio set; an Icon hand-held radio set; and a roll of camouflage material on October 1.
Sources say that Rodrigues’ gruesome killing may have been linked to a “weapons for drugs” deal that went sour or that he knew too much about the weaponry found.
Police issued a wanted bulletin for Charlestown resident Mark De Abreu who was arrested after he turned himself in days later. He was released on self bail the following day.
