TWENTY-THREE-YEAR OLD Delroy Fredericks, a miner, was shot and killed by bandits in San Felix, Venezuela, last Saturday night.
His uncle, Levi Williams, who is the Deputy Toshoa of Mashabo, said his nephew was living in Venezuela and working in the Guyana interior.
Mr. Williams said he learnt from other relatives via telephone that Fredericks had returned to Venezuela about a week ago, and had gone out with three friends the night tragedy struck.
Williams said Fredericks and his friends wanted hotdogs, and approached a mobile snackette to do the purchasing when a group of gunmen, suspected to be Venezuelan bandits, surrounded them and demanded that they hand over all their money and jewellery.
The uncle said that according to the relatives, Fredericks ignored the demands of the aggressive robbers, while his other three friends complied, but a fight started.
His nephew resisted, and he was shot in the abdomen and was left bleeding on the road while the bandits escaped.
The wounded man was rushed to a hospital in Venezuela, but died during an emergency operation.
His body was brought to Guyana on Wednesday by speedboat, and buried at Mashabo, where he was born and bred.
The funeral service was held in the Seventh Day Adventist Church in the village where it brought tears and sadness to the entire community. The deceased has left, to mourn, his mother, Amy Fredericks and father, Ronald Fredericks, three brothers and one sister.
Delroy was the eldest child for his parents, who lived in Venezuela for several years before, returning to Guyana, recently.