SALEEM Abdool Azeez, 23 years, an engineer attached to Edward B. Beharry Company of Delhi Street, Prashad Nagar, Georgetown was early yesterday morning gunned down just one building away from his home.

A senior police official told the Guyana Chronicle that Azeez was confronted by three men in an apparent attempt to rob him as he was about to enter his premises. The police said that during the incident, Azeez was shot and later succumbed to his injuries while he was being rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

The officer said that based on surveillance footage they got from a nearby house, a taxi had dropped Azeez home, and as soon as he exited the vehicle, three teenagers on separate bicycles rode up to him and tried to rob him.

“The boy fight back with them, and since they didn’t get anything from him, they shot him three times. His phone and money was recovered in his pocket,” the officer said.

A cousin, Imtiaz Haniff, said all he heard is that Azeez was shot three times. He said he doesn’t really know what happened, and all he could say is that his cousin was a hardworking and quiet individual who is the only son for his mother, Sharifa Azeez and father Abdool Azeez.

However, the family is wondering how the taxi driver dropped Azeez in front of his home, but he ended up getting shot a building away.

Meanwhile, Chronicle spoke with a neighbour who said that she heard like four gunshots, and afterwards she looked out to see what was happening.

“When I peep out, I saw the boy body was lying on the floor (ground) in front of the Knight Riders Bus Service, and two men were seen escaping on cycles,” the neighbour said.

The neighbour described Azeez as a hardworking man, who is hardly at home. She said that it’s sad to see him lose his life like that.

Azeez leaves to mourn his four sisters, his parents and other relatives.

(By Asif Hakim)