TROY Smith, 34, of Lot 108 Thomas Street, Kitty, Georgetown, was shot dead early yesterday morning, during an argument over a missing motorcycle.
The shooting took place about 07:20 h at the victim’s residence and his brother, Shawn Smith told the Guyana Chronicle he was inside when it happened. He said he overheard a loud argument between his sibling and a man from Stone Avenue, Campbellville, also in Georgetown.
Shawn said, sometime after, he saw Troy run into the house, clutching his stomach before collapsing.
The injured man was rushed to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Smith said the shooter is a notorious thief and an unlicensed firearm holder who confronted his brother, cuffed him in the face and told him he had 24 hours to find the motorcycle.
He said his brother picked up a scrubbing board to defend himself but the other man pulled a gun and fired it, then fled the scene.
Smith said he ran after the murderer but, after the man threatened to shoot him, too, he abandoned the chase.
Returning to the murder scene, he found his brother in a pool of blood, barely conscious.
The dead man was a vendor and a porter, who assisted in emptying containers about the city and is survived by a stepdaughter and a son.
Police said investigations revealed that the deceased had been in a confrontation with a man who accused him of stealing his motorcycle and killed him with a gunshot in the abdomen.
The killer, reportedly a known character, was still being hunted up to press time.