A city car rental agent was mowed down by a gunman in an attack near the Bourda Market during the wee hours of yesterday morning.
Stanley Lovell, called “Steve,” 30, of Lot 64 Prashad Nagar, was shot 13 times as he sat on the hood of his car at Regent and Bourda streets. He appeared to be the intended victim of the gunman, who used a high-powered weapon to carry out the hit and then fled in a waiting vehicle. Lovell’s friend, Anthony Lall, 21, a cleaner of Bent Street, Wortmanville, George-town, was shot once to his left leg in the attack. He was treated and discharged by a hospital afterward.
Lovell was known to police as he was charged in 2008 with the murder of University of Guyana student Dennis Edghill. Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum yesterday said police were reviewing surveillance footage taken from a camera in the vicinity of the crime scene for leads.
A police statement said the shooting took place around 3 am.
Lall was said to be standing next to Lovell at the time.
Stabroek News was told that Lovell and his friends, including Lall, had earlier left a popular nightspot in the city. It is believed that they were trailed from the nightspot to Bourda Market, where they stopped to purchase breakfast.
A friend went into the market to make the purchase, while Lovell and Lall were at the car outside the market waiting on him. It was at this point that the gunman approached and opened fire.
The police said they recovered 14 9mm spent shells from the scene.
A man who was sleeping at a stall near the scene of the crime said he was awakened by what he thought was the sound of electric wires overhead sparking. He said he immediately got up and enquired what was transpiring when he saw a number of persons rushing to the front of the market. He was told by vendors that someone was shot. “By time I could of reach to where the shooting [occurred], I see a man sprawl off on the car bonnet dead,” the man said, while adding that Lall ran towards him shouting. “They shoot me in me foot and kill me lil brother,” he recalled the wounded man saying.
When Stabroek News visited Lovell’s home, a number of relatives and friends had gathered upon learning of his death. His relatives refused to comment on the murder.
Although Lovell had been charged with Edghill’s murder, the matter never made it to trial after the presiding magistrate upheld a no-case submission made on his behalf during the preliminary inquiry into the charge.
