POLICE have launched a murder investigation after 24-year-old Jermaine Simon of 46 Norton Street, Bagotstown, was gunned down on Tuesday night on the street where he lived, in full view of his family.And in an apparent retaliation, the suspected shooter’s house was set on fire yesterday morning, even as he evades the police.

According to the Guyana Police Force, the shooting occurred at around 20:30hrs on Tuesday in Norton Street, Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara.

Based on investigations, at the time of the shooting Simon was passing the suspect’s house on a bicycle when the man rushed out of his yard and discharged a round at him, hitting the 24-year-old to his head. Simon subsequently died at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) while receiving treatment.

When contacted, ‘A’ Division Commander Assistant Commissioner Clifton Hicken told this newspaper that police investigators have already identified the suspect and a wanted bulletin will soon be issued. However, up to press time, the suspect was still on the run.
Meanwhile, at the home of Simon’s grandmother at Lot 46 Norton Street, Bagotstown, relatives mourned his passing. His mother, Nicola Simon, still traumatised at seeing her son being shot on Tuesday night, cried silently as she sat apart from the rest of the family on the stairway leading to the one-flat wooden house.

According to the distraught mother, her son was at the corner of the street hanging out with some of his friends when he decided to pay his grandmother a visit but his granny had gone to a nearby shop and so he went in search of her.

“By the time he reach to the (suspect’s) fence…. He (the suspect) aimed a gun straight to his forehead and he fall off his bike,” she added, noting that Simon had been shot.

The suspected shooter had reportedly pointed the gun at Simon’s mother and other relatives when they were attempting to rush the wounded man to the hospital. “He aimed at the fence and calling pun he phone and saying I just done kill Jermaine. I don’t know is who he calling, if it is his rest of criminals or wuh and that was it,” the woman stated.

Simon was rushed to the Diamond Regional Hospital but was subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital. He died while receiving treatment in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department.

Questioned what may have led to the shooting, Simon’s mother said she was clueless. “As far as I am concerned, meh son and he (suspect) had no problem.” But then she recalled that “they had an old grievance lang now,” but the woman insisted that the matter was resolved by the police. “Nothing come out of it because nothing serious happened to nobody.”

But this is not the first time Simon was attacked. According to his mother, in March this year the same gang in which the suspect is reportedly a member, had bombed down his house in Agricola. “He sleeping with his wife and stepson and them come and bomb him down 2 o’clock in de morning with channa bomb,” she recalled.

In addition to the suspect, Nicola said that Ryan Sooklall, the teen her son was accused of killing in March, was also part of the attack on his family. “He mek a report, Providence Police, and nothing come out of the story…that triggered him.”
Following the murder of Sooklall, the police had issued a wanted bulletin for Simon.

Nicola yesterday neither confirmed nor negated the act allegedly committed by her son. “People seh meh son kill that boy but I don’t know but dem trigger he fuh do all dem thing. Is lang dem after meh son,” she lamented.
“I want justice because I see meh son get gun down and meh son go through a lot with these people; they wrong deal he,” she cried.
Another family member told reporters that the gang which has members in Bagotstown, Agricola and Providence would usually terrorize the area, robbing residents and demanding money from targeted businesses. According to the woman, targeted persons must pay up their “royalties” when demanded by the gang members, noting that Simon, who sold bar-b-que at the head of Norton Street, was often a target.

“Royalty money….you have to pay them when they turn up, if you don’t pay them it is problem for you….They are gunmen and everybody in the village frighten them….them does close down this village about 8 o’clock when you pass you want to know if it is a ghost town. Them would rob you if them see you coming.”

Meanwhile, the wooden two-storey house, in which the suspect lived along with his brother, went up in flames yesterday shortly before midday. When the Chronicle visited the scene yesterday, two policemen were guarding the building.