PERSONS with connections to the drug underworld were responsible for the gunning down of a former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldier last month, police said.

In a statement Deputy Police Commissioner (Law Enforcement) Seelall Persaud said the 7.62 rifle that was used to fatally shoot 23-year-old Denzil Mingo outside the Edge Night Club, Hotel Tower on November 16 was also used at another execution-style killing three years ago.

He said that based on ballistic tests, Mingo’s death might have been drug-related. No one has been arrested for the ex-soldier’s murder to date.
Earlson Murray, 23, of Norton Street, Wortmanville who was also in the vehicle with Mingo was injured during the shooting and was hospitalised. Another occupant, Joseph Barker of Fifth Street, Alberttown, was apparently not struck.
Meanwhile, Crime Chief Persaud said the same assault rifle was also used to kill two men on Stone Avenue and Royal Drive, Campbellville on October 5, 2010. The deceased were Patrick Goodluck of Mahaicony, East Coast of Demerara, and North Sophia and Godfrey “Mosquito” Manselleck, whose address was not provided.
Prior to their deaths, five persons were shot and killed in Cummings Lodge on September 4, 2010. They included Steve Jupiter, his common-law wife Fiona Singh, their three-year-old son Neil, Christopher ‘Bigga’ Gordon and Sherwin ‘Dice Head’ Jerome.
Then police commissioner, Henry Greene had said that Jupiter was a suspected hit-man, enforcer and transporter of drugs.