By Joseph Allen
Local photographer, Keron Bruce’s Eccles, East Bank Demerara home was shot at by a lone gunman at around 10:30 pm on Tuesday.
CCTV footage of the incident captured shows a male on a motorcycle riding past Bruce’s home, before turning back and dismounting. The gunman then walked up to the fence of the property, firing eight rounds before remounting the motorcycle and escaping. According to Bruce, six rounds hit a bus that was parked in the yard, while two rounds struck the side of his home near to the kitchen. Bruce added that after the incident he stayed for some time inside with his family. He said that he looked through the window, and after seeing that the area was clear of any danger, he called the police via its 911 emergency line.
Bruce said that the police arrived some 10 minutes after and began their investigation. Eight spent shells and several warheads were removed from the bus and from the walls of the house. Speak-ing to Stabroek News after the incident, Bruce said that his family was shaken up after the incident, especially his wife. He said that he will now try to improve the security arrangements out of concern for his family’s safety.
“Well, my wife is pretty shaken up. Naturally she will feel concern for her safety, and security, so I’m trying to address that and we are improving the security measures that we have already in place to make her feel a little more at ease in the mind”, he said.
Bruce said that he does not think that the incident was an attempt to kill him, because if that was so, it would have been done differently. “At no point I think I was shot at. I think if they wanted to carry out any assassination attempt, the attack would have played out very differently. The individual just came up and shot in the direction of the minibus and to the house. The glass for the house was not shot at, so I guess if you wanted to shoot inside of the house, you more than likely would have shot [at] the window,” Bruce noted. He said that he thinks that an individual who may have a problem with him paid the individual to carry out the attack.
“It’s clear that who it is, the individual wanted to send a message, and I also don’t believe that the individual that came and carried out the attack, that he is the one that may have wanted to do this. I think he was paid by someone else who may have had problems with me,” Bruce added. Bruce was charged for using a computer system to subject another person to public ridicule, contempt, hatred or embarrassment, contrary to Section 19 (5) (a) of the Cyber Crime Act No. 16 of 2018.
A one million dollar reward was offered as part of an effort to reveal or divulge the real identity of the ‘Mud Wata’ character, under which the statements were made. After the reward was offered, several persons provided information which led to the police obtaining a court order and conducting a search of Bruce’s Eccles home. Several pieces of electronic equipment were seized from the residence. Bruce had also filed a defamation lawsuit in an unrelated matter.
Bruce said that the shooting must be related to the two matters since both are coming to an end and there is a likelihood that he will come out victorious. “I can’t think of any adversaries. Matter of fact, I don’t have any adversaries besides the one I took to court for the $101 million lawsuit after he would have libeled me”, Bruce maintained.
