The Regent Street vendor who was shot several times on Saturday night succumbed to his injuries yesterday afternoon and his family is pleading with the police not to let the murder become another unsolved case.
On Saturday night, the police had said that investigations were being conducted into an incident at the Vendors Arcade, Regent Street, Georgetown where Keron Herbert, (the police release had both names spelt incorrectly) , 29 years, of East La Penitence, Georgetown, was shot to his buttocks while closing his stall around 8 pm.
However, Herbert’s father, Kenneth Herbert told Stabroek News yesterday that his son was shot five times. “He was shot once to the back of his neck, once at his side around his abdominals, one to his kidney which he lost, one to his leg, and one to his back,” Kenneth said, adding that he had been told this by the doctor. He said that after the man was taken to the hospital and received initial treatment, the doctor had told him that he was not taking any risks in removing the bullet that was lodged near to his spinal cord and as a result Keron would most likely lose mobility in his legs.
“I didn’t care because he was alive and that’s all that matters. The doctor then said he was stable and he was taken to the ward,” Kenneth related to Stabroek News. He said that when he visited his son around midday yesterday he was lying unconscious in a coma-like state on the bed and his worst fears came true about four hours later when he was called by the doctor and told that his son had succumbed to his injuries.
He said that while the entire incident looked like a `hit’, he wasn’t aware whether his son was involved in anything that would result in such a “brutal” outcome. “It’s brutal I tell you. Very brutal and I would love to know the reason why they would want to kill him in such a way,” he said, stating that from the information he was able to gather, there was a white Toyota Premio parked around the area waiting for several minutes before his son was gunned down.
“It is really inhumane to shoot a man but then to shoot him so many times,” he said. Stabroek News was made to understand that after the man was gunned down from behind, he fell flat on his face, bruising his head. However, his body was found lying on the back. “It look like they shoot him to kill him and then turn he over to check if he was and they probably thought he was,” Kenneth added.
He is pleading with the police to stick with the case so that the family and friends can receive closure and that his son can get the justice he deserves. “There were many cameras around the area looking all over that I am sure caught something at least and I hope that the police use them wisely and stick behind the case. I hope this just doesn’t end up like one of those cold cases where nothing is done and the family is always left
wondering. I will be behind him,” he said.
Keron was allegedly involved in an armed robbery and two murders in Bartica along with another man in 2010 but the case was subsequently dismissed against him due to the lack of evidence. The other person who was accused along with him, Rawle Newton, was found dead last year in Eccles. Keron’s father stated that he is not ruling out a possible link to the dismissed case.
Keron Herbert, an ex-soldier had been implicated in the killing of two gold dealers at Bartica in 2010.
The allegation was that between September 4 and 5 at Bartica the then 24-year-old Herbert murdered Ramdeo Deonarine and Jainarine Raghubir.
Deonarine and Raghubir were both bound and had deep wounds inflicted to their throats. It was reported that approximately $1.2 million in cash as well as 100 ounces of raw gold and two laptops were stolen from the house.
Keron Herbert leaves to mourn four children and a wife.
