A taxi driver was early yesterday afternoon gunned down in front of his home in full view of several witnesses.
Orin David of Lot 89 Laing Avenue was reportedly drinking alcohol with some friends and relatives near to his house yesterday around 4 pm when he was approached by two persons who he knew.
An eyewitness explained that the three men engaged in a conversation away from the drinking and were seen arguing a short while after. “From what I know and heard from… when they come up is that he [David] wanted some money from them because they had owed him,” the eyewitness, who was close to David, related.
According to reports, David had bailed one of his friends from jail several weeks ago and was told that he was going to get back the money.
However, time had elapsed and David had not received his full repayment and had been annoyed at the person.
“I don’t know exactly what was going on in the argument or what was said or if it was anything more than the money issue but they left and they come back with more men,” the eyewitness related, pointing out that when the two men returned, two vehicles and two motorcycles with men came with them.
“I don’t know if they came to fight a war or something but one of them had a big gun that he was hiding and I don’t know if they had other people in the car with guns too. When he [David] see them coming he started walking back to them cause is nah like he expect them to shoot he,” the eyewitness said.
But when David got to the middle of the road one of the two men pulled out a “big gun” and fired three shots, hitting him.
Before that there was loud music playing throughout Laing Avenue and people outside their homes enjoying the afternoon; the music quickly subsided after the gunshots.
“As soon as I hear the gunshots and I see he body drop to the ground, I know he dead. I know he dead,” David’s aunt told Stabroek News yesterday. The woman said one of his friends who was drinking with him picked him up and rushed him to his car and drove him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The men escaped but some of the neighbours related that one of the houses in the vicinity is equipped with security cameras that might have been able to capture the incident and the perpetrator’s face.
“From what I de understand is that he de know the people them and you see what happen? But that is not my concern.
They had children here, there and everywhere playing because everybody just enjoying the Emancipation afternoon and they just roll up so and shoot a man up,” one of the residents said.
David, called ‘Plait Hair,’ along with Shawn Anthony Thom, was charged with the murder of Lakeram Bishundial who was fatally shot during a robbery at Hope, East Coast Demerara, on August 21, 2010. He was found not guilty of the murder in February last year.
