MANU Durant, 40, of Atlantic Ville, East Coast Demerara, was early yesterday morning shot to the chest, and later succumbed at a private hospital following a misunderstanding in a night club.According to reports, a man who is reportedly one of the security officers at the North Road Baroombar Strip Club, went to shut off the music when he was confronted by the controversial Durant.
Sources say that the security officer, whose name was given as “Lion” and for whom the police has since launched a manhunt, turned the music off since, according to him, the time had come for the music to be stopped.
It was reported that following his decision to stop the music, “Lion” was approached by Durant who questioned his authority to stop the music. Durant, who had a glass with liquid in his hands at the time, threw the substance in the face of the security guard, and immediately whipped out a weapon and discharged a round close to the man’s ear.
At this, “Lion” immediately stepped back, drew his weapon and fired a single shot in Durant’s direction, which hit him in the chest. As Durant fell to the ground, his associates rushed to his assistance, while “Lion” calmly walked out of the Club and left the area.
The injured man was rushed to the Balwant Singh Hospital where he was immediately taken for surgery, but died while receiving medical attention. However, the police were not informed of the man’s death, and it was only after ranks went back at the health facility to check on his condition, that they were informed that he had died.
The standard operating procedure is for hospitals to inform the police when persons being treated for gunshot wounds or are involved in accidents succumb to their injuries.
Yesterday, the police, during their investigation, initially arrested four persons for questioning in relation to the incident, but those men were later released after initial evidence failed to prove that any of them was involved in the shooting.
By late yesterday afternoon, word spread that the shooter was not a Guyanese national, and that the man might have already skipped the country; police sources have since denied those claims.
Manu Durant was the person who was accused several years ago of exiting a minibus and slitting the throat of a man with whom he had an issue. He was however never charged, as eyewitnesses had failed to come forward.
It was also this same Durant whose name was called in connection with the kidnapping of the girlfriend of one- time most wanted man, Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins. There were several killings which followed that abduction, which were regarded as retaliation by Rawlins for the disappearance of his girlfriend.
Durant was no stranger to controversy and the gun, as he had survived an execution attempt while liming at the Wild Berry Sports Bar at Barr Street, Kitty. Two men on a motorcycle reportedly approached him, and while one waited the other attempted the failed execution.
By Leroy Smith