Collin Hooper, the man who was gunned down in East La Penitence on Monday night, was a suspect in the murder of moneychanger, Prince Phillip Alleyne, who was shot and killed during a robbery outside Ashmins Trading’s building more than a month ago.
Police spokesman Jairam Ramlakhan, in a press release yesterday confirmed that Hooper, known as `Gun Youth’, 45, was known to the police.
Apart from being wanted for Alleyne’s murder, Ramlakhan said that Hooper also had several pending robbery charges before the courts.
Alleyne, 57, a resident of Lot 88 Public Road, Grove, East Bank Demerara, was shot in his head around 10.40 am on April 16, just after he had parked his car outside Ashmins Trading.
He was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospi-tal, where he succumbed about an hour after while receiving medical attention.
An autopsy later showed that he died as a result of shock and haemorrhage due to the gunshot wound.
The incident occurred on the western side of the Ashmins Trading building, between Hadfield and Leopold streets, less than an hour after Alleyne had left his home to ply his trade on America Street.
The killing was carried out by two men on a motorcycle, who were both armed with handguns and dressed in Muslim attire. They managed to escape with Alleyne’s licensed firearm and an undisclosed amount of cash.
Hooper was shot and killed around 8.30 pm on Monday at East La Penitence Dam, a short distance from his home.
The police had said that his lifeless body was found with several suspected gunshot wounds to the head.
“Investigators found…six spent shells of a small calibre weapon in close proximity to the body,” the police added.
Up to late yesterday afternoon, no arrests had been made.
Residents in the area had previously related to the police that they were alerted by the sounds of gunshots ringing out on the dam.
“We were inside our house and just hear the gunshots going off one after the other…we didn’t even check how much shots were fired. But when we come out we see the man lying from front of that yard (pointing to the yard). He deh done dead,” a neighbour had told Stabroek News.
The crime scene is situated a stone’s throw away from the East La Penitence Police Station.
Nicola Goodluck, the dead man’s sister, yesterday told Stabroek News that his death has left the family puzzled.
Goodluck stated that she learnt about the incident around 9 pm Monday, when she received a call from a friend. She noted that she telephoned her child’s father, who subsequently confirmed that Hooper had indeed been shot.
Goodluck said because the incident occurred late, she only informed other relatives yesterday morning. “…Me sister ask me wah happen and I seh Collin get shoot. She holler ‘Wah?’ I seh yea and ah seh look the pictures them here and everybody left in a shock,” she related.
The grieving sister said it remains unclear if Hooper was shot while he was back home, heading out or just liming.
She said persons in the area remain tightlipped about the incident. “Right now like people just afraid to speak out or anything. They ain’t saying nothing,” Goodluck said.
She said the only matter she was aware of her brother being involved in was a years-long domestic issue between him and his step-son. However, this matter, she said, was settled by the police.
Apart from this, she said Hooper was incarcerated in the 2000’s but was unable to say for what offence.
“Dah is a long story. I was a little girl. He serve he time, then he come out, he went to Antigua, come back and when he come back to the country, then is when he pick up with this woman he did living with…other than that, he never had no police story,” Goodluck said.
Goodluck said while the family remains unclear about their next move in the matter, they are hoping that the killer/s will be caught.
“I can’t say if I am calling for justice now or wah because nobody ain’t saying nothing, just left we now in a (trance) so we don’t know wah is we next move or nothing,” she noted.
Hooper lived with his fiancée and her children.
Goodluck said when family members visited the house yesterday, no one appeared to be at home.
