Four persons are now in custody as police move to track down those responsible for the execution-style slaying of Marlon Osborne, which occurred in broad daylight at Laluni Street, Queenstown, in Georgetown on Wednesday.
According to the senior Guyana Police Force official, those in custody are being questioned as police believe they have knowledge of not only who killed Osborne, who was the bodyguard of the recently-murdered Ricardo Rodrigues, but the motive behind the killing.
One person was initially taken into custody on Wednesday, while three others were held yesterday.
Osborne, 33, of South Ruimveldt, was riddled with bullets moments after he exited the yard of a friend he had visited. Eyewitnesses had stated that the killing seemed premeditated as just as Osborne entered his vehicle and was about to reverse, they pulled up and began firing.
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. Osborne’s vehicle, PNN 9922, was 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 to the park position before collapsing as it did not veer into the nearby fences.
An autopsy on Osborne’s body will be performed today.
The volley of bullets fired at the man, who was also known as ‘Trini’ and ‘Country,’ also left students of the nearby Josel Educational Institute terrified. One of the students was hit with debris from concrete that a bullet had penetrated.
When the school reopened yesterday, trauma counseling began for the students, whose ages range from 5 years to 12 years. Teachers, parents and members of several Seventh-day Adventist church also took to praying and talking with the children.
Security sources say the execution-style attack is clear evidence of fallout from the events surrounding the murder of Rodrigues, who was gunned down a little more than two weeks ago as he dined at a restaurant at the GMR&SC Sports Club. Three other persons, Aubrey Henry, Michael Hopkinson and Jean Pierre Le Blanc, were also wounded in the attack. Henry and Hopkinson were discharged, while Le Blanc succumbed mysteriously last Friday while recovering from a bullet wound to his buttocks. 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.
Osborne was known to police due to his past association with Rodrigues, who himself was a close associate of convicted drug lord Roger Khan. Khan is presently serving time in a US jail.
Osborne was questioned by police in connection with the slaying of his boss. 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 may have avoided it because of the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
According to Stabroek News’ records, in June 2003, Osborne, then 23, 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 said that a GDF patrol had seen the trio acting in a suspicious manner while travelling in a black Honda along the Railway Embank-ment, 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 9mm Sigsauer Automatic Pistol and 15 matching rounds. No weapon was found on the other man.
