Just hours after being released from police custody, Kellon Hinds was gunned down on Monday evening in what is believed to be a reprisal killing.
Hinds, 22, called ‘Baje,’ of East Ruimveldt Squat-ting Area, Georgetown, was shot by three men in his family’s yard in the East Ruimveldt community.
Among the shooters is said to be a man who had been threatening Hinds.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News that police are presently looking for three suspects, including a relative of Sherwyne Barrow, who was murdered three months ago. Hinds, according to members of his family, had been held by police as a suspect in Sherwyne Barrow’s murder. They said he was afraid of Barrow and his family.
“Every time he come from abroad, they does rob he and they rob he last year and shot he up. He say he ain’t got time to go to no court and mek report. He was ‘fraid of them, so he say it ain’t mek no sense you go mek report and give people more reason for kill you,” a relative said.
Hinds had only returned to Guyana from Barbados last week.
“He come back last week and the police hold he, ’cause they say he was the last individual that had a problem with Barrow. He come out yesterday about 5.15 on $40,000 station bail. By time 9 O’clock they kill he,” a relative said.
Monday’s attack was not the first attack on Hinds. A previous attempt was made on the life of Hinds, who was previously shot and robbed in 2014, allegedly by Sherwyne Barrow.
On July 13th, 2014, Hinds was shot in his abdomen. Later in the same year, Sherwyne Barrow, 24, was arraigned for four charges, including discharging a loaded firearm at Hinds with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause grievous bodily harm.
After Hinds and another virtual complainant failed to show up in court, Barrow was released on April 16th, 2015. On May 6th, Barrow was riddled with bullets as he sat outside a shop at Warlock, East Ruimveldt.
Barrow, of 50 East La Penitence, Georgetown, was apparently lured to the area under the pretext that a peace deal was going to be made so that an ongoing issue between him and several young men from the area would come to an end. Instead, he was surrounded by at least three men who opened fire on him.
Meanwhile, Hinds’ family is unhappy with how the police treated their relative and with how they are handling the investigation.
“The police come, they say they gon’ come back, nobody never come back. He coulda live… the police come to uplift the body and carry he till from Mandela, till round Lamaha. They driving on they own time, instead a carry he straight to the hospital they drive ’round. They ain’t act like it was an emergency,” a relative explained.
Police said Hinds was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
