Police are on the hunt for a lone gunman who shot and killed a Ministry of Health driver at his Sophia home on Thursday night in the presence of two of his children.
Dead is Collin McPherson, 43, a father of four, of Lot 460 ‘D’ Field, Sophia.
The attack unfolded around 21.40 hrs while McPherson was sitting on a bench in front his house with three men, including his 26-year-old nephew, and there are indications that one of the other men was the intended target of the shooter.
McPherson’s 18-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter were in the house. They ran for cover after the gunman entered the house.
The police, in a statement issued yesterday, said that an eyewitness recalled that he was in the house when he heard a loud explosion, after which McPherson rushed inside and shouted “close the door”.
Upon seeing the gunman, the eyewitness said, he ran into a bedroom in the house, leaving McPherson in the living room. Two more loud explosions were then heard and then there was silence.
“The eyewitness said he emerged from the bedroom shortly after which he saw McPherson lying motionless in the living room,” the statement explained.
Sources told Stabroek News that investigators are reviewing CCTV footage with a hope of identifying the slim-built suspect, who was dressed in a blue shirt, dark-colour pants and and was wearing a blue facemask.
At the dead man’s house yesterday, Milika Parris, the mother of McPherson’s children, told Stabroek News that she visited his house on Thursday evening to drop off his 13-year-old daughter after which she left.
A few minutes later, she said she received a call from her daughter, who informed her that McPherson was shot and killed. “Shorty after she called me, like 20 minutes after when I reach home. She called me and she said ‘mommy somebody just kill meh father. Run in the house and shoot meh father’….Me ain’t tek it fah nothing because I know he is a high pressure case. So I said sometime he mus’ ’e fall down with the high pressure and she mus’ ’e just saying duh,” Parris explained.
As a result, she said she returned to the house. A crowd had gathered in front the house by the time she arrived. The police were also present. “They tell me somebody just shoot Collin so I got to identify he,” Parris said.
According to Parris, McPherson was shot about four times about his body. “He went on duh bench sitting down and they shoot he… Like they shoot he two time outside there and then they run inside and shoot he again twice,” she noted.
Beg for he life
Parris further told Stabroek News that her daughter told her that McPherson begged for his life. “She seh mommy meh father beg for he life. He seh ‘Don’t kill meh! Don’t kill meh!” Parris related.
According to Parris, her children related to her that after the gunman entered the house, McPherson ordered them to go into their room and hide. “He tell them go in the bedroom and lock the door and when they [didn’t] hear no noise or nothing they come out back and they see he lay down on the floor dead,” she said.
The attack has left McPherson’s family searching for answers as to why someone would want to kill him. “Collin don’t deh in no problem. Collin don’t deh in no story. Collin is a peaceful man. He don’t like police problem,” she explained.
However, based on what Parris’ nephew, who was present when the shooting unfolded, related to her, McPherson was not the intended target of the gunman.
“What I was made to understand was there was a young man sitting out there [outside the house] on the bench with my nephew and the young man that was sitting there he bore somebody in ‘B’ Field and he come hay and he telling Collin the story….And whilst he was sitting there, when the boy [gunman] come up with the gun, Collin turn and tell he don’t kill he and the boy run. So like after the boy run, they just shoot and shoot he,” Parris explained.
“It’s not like a robbery. It’s not nothing. Collin don’t deh in no problem with nobody. He don’t deh in no story,” she said.
Meanwhile, a neighbour, who wished not to be named told Stabroek News that she was at home when she heard what sounded like explosives. “I thought was squib but then I continue hear it and I say no, this is not squib, this is gunshot,” the woman said.
She related that she telephoned her husband who was at work and he told her to stay indoors. “I was peeping to see if I see anything or so but I didn’t see anything but I didn’t know where the sound was coming from,” she added.
A while after, the woman related that she heard screams and saw a crowd rushing over to the house. She said she then asked a neighbour what happened when she learnt McPherson was shot. “…They say Collin get shoot and that was it,” the woman said.
Police recovered two 9MM suspected spent shells at the scene.
