Police are now on the hunt for a Charlestown man over the murder of Government Technical Institute (GTI) student, 19-year-old Samuel Grannum, who was brutally beaten on Friday and succumbed to his injuries on Monday. In a wanted bulletin, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) identified the suspect as Keron Taylor also called ‘Laro’. His last known address was listed as Lot 83 Adelaide Street, Charlestown, Georgetown.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of ‘Laro’ is asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6940, 225-8196, 226-7476, 225-2317, 227-1149, or the nearest police station.
Taylor is known to the police as he spent five years behind bars for the murder of Senassie Lewis who was fatally shot at a bar in Albouystown in 2015. Taylor was released from prison in 2020. Commander of Regional Division Four ‘A’, Assistant Commissioner Simon McBean, also disclosed that one other suspect was arrested and as of yesterday, was being interviewed.
Although no official press release was issued by the GPF yesterday, it was reported that Grannum was attacked on Friday last at about 3 pm while he was liming with a friend at the Route 45 bus park on Croal Street. He succumbed to his injuries on Monday at about 1:35 pm at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.
The now deceased teen’s aunt, Marcia Grannum, had previously explained to this newspaper what she had learnt of the entire ordeal. “…he was sitting with a friend. According to the friend, he heard something. I don’t know what he heard but he said to my nephew, ‘Grannum run’. So my nephew like he was shock. He didn’t know why he was running. So the friend ran and the guys, they caught up with both of them [Samuel and his friend]. He [the friend] got his [injuries] on his hand and my nephew [Samuel], they surrounded him.”
Marcia had said that she believed that the attack occurred as a result of her nephew being mistaken for someone else.
When Stabroek News spoke to Marcia yesterday, she said that while they were at the police station, representatives of GTI were all present and according to her, they testified that Grannum was never in a fight at the institution, nor were they aware of any fights that he was ever involved in outside of the institution.
The police have since managed to recover CCTV footage of the attack, and according to McBean, some of the males who launched the attack were wearing uniforms of an educational institution, while some weren’t.
Marcia related that a post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted today.
After Grannum was picked up and initially transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital, the family claimed that he received no medical attention from staff there. They were told that eight other persons were in front of Grannum and that he had to wait. As such, he was eventually taken to St Joseph Mercy Hospital where he immediately received medical treatment.
When contacted, the GPHC Public Relations Officer, Jai Lall, professed to be unaware of the alleged treatment that Grannum received and stated that an investigation will be conducted today.
