The gunman who shot teenager Ashmini Harriram dead, first snatched her cellphone and after heading to his getaway car then turned back, pointed his weapon beneath her chin and pulled the trigger, an eyewitness said yesterday.
Up to press time last night the police had not located the gunman or the burgundy coloured car (not red as was reported before) which he had fled the scene in. Footage from a surveillance camera mounted on a nearby building has reportedly yielded very few clues. Stabroek News was told that because of the angle of the camera, the scene of the shooting was out of range. All that the camera recorded was cars driving on the roadway in front of the building. This newspaper was told that the licence plate numbers for the passing vehicles were not visible in the footage.
Questions have been raised as to the motive for the killing. Relatives are insisting that the 18-year-old cosmetologist had no known enemies or problems that would have resulted in such a cruel death. Though a cell phone was snatched from the teen, the circumstances under which she was shot leave room for speculation as to whether there was more to the shooting.
When Stabroek News revisited the area yesterday an eyewitness recounted what they had seen. According to the eyewitness, Harriram and her cousin were heading east along the Lusignan Railway Embankment when a burgundy coloured car passed them and stopped. The car was heading in the same direction.
The eyewitness said that from their vantage point it appeared as though the teen was on her cellular phone and as it approached the now stationary vehicle, a man got out of the passenger front seat. “He walk up to she (Ashmini) snatch she phone and he go back to de car but he ain’t jump in. He turn back, tek three step, point he gun underneath hey [pointing to the bottom of the chin] and shoot.” According to the eyewitness the man then calmly walked back to the vehicle and got in. The vehicle then drove off, but not at a speed, the eyewitness related.
From where they stood, the eyewitness said that it was hard to tell if any words were exchanged between Harriram and the assailant.
The eyewitness and another resident who had seen the car were unable to give a licence plate number. A proper description of the shooter has also not been forthcoming.
Besides the eyewitness only one other resident so far has recalled seeing the car. The resident had described the car as being red. She had related to reporters that she was sitting in her hammock waiting on the teen to return home to do her hair when she heard something go off like a squib, and when she raised her head she saw a girl running on the road. “When I saw her [Harriram’s cousin] running I see a red car pull off with one speed,” she said, adding that she didn’t pay attention to the car but had a feeling that something had happened. She said that she then took her children inside and shortly after heard screaming on the road.
She said that she ran to her veranda and when she looked out she saw a girl on the roadway. She said that she then ran to the road. From the neck up, Harriram was covered in blood. She said the girl was just shaking. She added that she noticed the girl’s phone casing on the ground along with several hundred dollar bills and a plastic bag with things that she had bought earlier during her trip to the city.
The teen’s cousin Fiona Samaroo who was with her at the time had recounted that they caught a bus from Georgetown and exited on the Lusignan Public Road. She said that as they neared home, Harriram decided to stop at a shop to buy hair colour to do her clients’ hair because they kept calling her.
She said that a car was parked on the roadway and as they neared “this man come out jus suh with a gun and go straight to she and just grabble she phone and shoot she.” A sobbing Samaroo said that she is unclear how many other persons were in the car but she only saw the gunman who was holding a “small gun.” She said that she was so shocked that she didn’t pay much attention to the man or the car as it drove away.
She said that she is unaware if the car might have been trailing them. She added that all the gunman did was snatch the phone. “They din tek no money or nothing,” she said, while repeating that the man went straight for the phone. She said that after Harriram was shot she was bleeding so much that she was unable to determine which part of her face the bullet had struck. She said that she was in such a state of panic that she cannot even remember what happened after Harriram fell to the ground. The teen was later transported to the hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
During this newspaper’s visit to the area yesterday one resident questioned whether it could have been a case of mistaken identity. The man said that teen was a very quiet person and until now he is still shocked at the way in which she had met her death. He also pointed out the fact that a cousin who was walking with Harriram at the time was not hurt.
At the teen’s home, tears and grief were very much in evidence. She is to be cremated at the Good Hope crematorium tomorrow after a service and viewing at her Lusignan Railway Embankment home.
Relatives said that the police have told them nothing else. “Them ain’t call back. We ain’t hear nothing…” they said adding that they are worried about the state of the investigation given the fact that two days have passed and they have not heard anything more.
They again stressed that they need justice and for the case to be thoroughly investigated. One relative said that as they await work, they are trying to figure out what to do with Samaroo as she is still traumatized by the events that she has witnessed. They said that they need some professional person to look at her and they would probably try and find someone. They said that she is still in shock but that they are thankful that she was not injured.
Asked about the car that the gunman escaped in, relatives said that they haven’t heard about the vehicle.
According to the relatives, they can’t say if the motive was a robbery or if someone “wilfully do it,” but they know that she had no problems with anyone. Her mother Khemwattie stressed “she had none trouble with nobody.”
Relatives said they still remain hopeful that police will be able to pick up some useful clues but remarked, “time passing. Time going and nobody ain’t coming with nothing.” They said that the incident is ‘very hard’ on the family. They said that Harriram’s mother worked very hard to raise her. She was the last of four children.
This case has some similarities to that of the September 11, 2010 death of Demerara Bank employee Sheema Mangar. Mangar was run over by a vehicle whose driver had moments before snatched her Blackberry cell phone. At the time the then 20 year old was waiting for transportation on North Road, close to Camp Street around 6 pm.
After the phone was snatched she jumped on the vehicle’s bonnet to stop the perpetrator from fleeing but the man ran over her and dragged her to the intersection of Camp and Church streets. She died hours later at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital from a ruptured spleen, which was one of the many injuries she sustained.
No one was charged in this case and the police were unable to trace the vehicle or find any useful clues although several samples were sent abroad for testing.
