NINETEEN-year-old Ryan Sooklall, of 27 Providence, East Bank Demerara was early last evening shot and killed while liming with friends in his neighbourhood, a short distance from where he lived. The incident reportedly occurred at around 19:00hrs. According to reports, Sooklall died of a single gunshot wound in the back, at the hands of a man with whom he had a grouse over an alleged shooting earlier in the day.

Unconfirmed reports are that Sooklall went to the home of a man in Agricola, a few villages away from where he lived, and discharged several rounds, causing the man and his family to panic.
The matter was allegedly reported to the police, who went in search of Sooklall, but did not find him at home. This apparently irked the Agricola man, as Police sources told the Guyana Chronicle that after they couldn’t find Sooklall, he took matters into his own hands and went in search of the teenager, found him and shot him dead.
Up to late last evening, the police were not able to locate the suspect, who persons insist is behind the teen’s murder. Sooklall’s mother, Sherry Alleyne, told the Guyana Chronicle last evening that she last saw her son only that morning, as he’d paid her a visit at her other property somewhere in Region Three.
She said they left the Region Three property together, after she decided to spend the day with other relatives at the Splashmins Fun Park at Soesdyke. Ryan, however, did not accompany her to Splashmins, as he never liked going to ‘The Creek’.
Alleyne said that it was while she was on her way from Splashmins that she received a call saying that her son was shot, and that he was rushed to the Diamond Hospital.
But on arrival there, she learnt that he’d already died, and that the cause of death was the gunshot wound he sustained in his back. She said she’d heard that a woman from Agricola had threatened to kill her son, but could not say when the threat was made, or whether the woman is related to the man implicated in his shooting.
Admitting that her son had had his fair share of brushes with the law, Alleyne said they were all for minor offences, and a few misunderstandings that he’d had with his father. She said her son works with her at a store she operates in the city, and that he would usually be there from 8am to 5pm daily.
She said that though her son had a lot of friends, he was not really the outgoing type. She was, however, quick to point out that she does not know what activities her son or his friends might have been involved in, as she is not usually around him all the time.
Asked whether she’d ever seen her son with a gun, Alleyne responded in the negative. Asked also whether she is a licensed firearm holder, and if perchance her son may have borrowed the weapon to terrorise the suspect and his family, Alleyne’s was that she has never handled a gun in her life. She did admit, however, to seeing a gun close up, but did not go into details of where or how it came to be.
Ryan is survived by his mother, two sisters and his father, having lost his older brother to a road accident in 2010. The police investigations into the matter are ongoing.

(By Leroy Smith)