Two weeks have passed since local police have made a request through Interpol for information on the fatal shooting of a Guyanese-born father and son in Venezuela but to date nothing has been forthcoming, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud.
Persaud on Tuesday said that the police force has heard nothing about the request for information that was made through Interpol on the deaths of Orlando Fitzgerald, 52, and his son Jesse, 17, who were shot dead on October 3, reportedly by Venezuelan soldiers after they refused to stop at a checkpoint. Reports suggest that when warning shots were fired at their boat by the soldiers, they returned fire. There were also reports that two other men were travelling in the boat with the father and son when the shooting occurred near the border that separates the two countries.
Marlyn Allick, wife of Orlando and mother of Jesse has strenuously denied reports that they were robbers, arguing that the father and son were being framed. She told Stabroek News that the two were beaten and shot and robbed of a large quantity of gold they had. Their bodies were later returned to Guyana and buried at Wauna, North West District (NWD) where the elder Fitzgerald grew up.
But while Allick and other relatives of the Fitzgeralds are saying that the men were robbed and then killed, Guyanese from the area where the shooting occurred have said that the men were escaping after robbing several persons in a spree that started since August. Some of the robbery victims have since come forward to tell their stories.
Meanwhile, persons close to the father and son told Stabroek News yesterday that they have heard nothing more about the case and that from all appearances all outstanding questions may never be answered. They insist that there were two other persons in the boat with them at the time of the shooting and that they are keys to the entire case. Based on what this newspaper was told, the two men are Venezuelan nationals and that they had returned to their country shortly after the shooting.
