The young woman who was gunned down Wednesday night in ‘B’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown was a mother of a young child and was scheduled to travel home to Barbados on Friday.
Twenty-three-year-old Sheniqua Hodge along with her boyfriend, Lance Corporal of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Daniel Fraser, 26, were executed by a lone gunman on a bicycle.
Relatives told the News Room on Thursday that the couple has been together for over a year – disputing the police report that they were only seeing each other for two weeks and that the young mother was here for some three months.
Relatives claimed that Hodge came to Guyana to sort out her birth certificate to join the Barbados Army and was only here for about a month.
Fraser lived in ‘A’ Field Sophia while Hodge was staying one corner away with a female friend. Fraser’s mother, Michelle Fraser told the News Room that she was sleeping at the time of the shooting, which occurred at about 23:30hrs.
“His friend said they was drinking at ‘C’ Field and when they done drink he ride off and they heard the gunshots, she get most of the shots.
“She only came home to get her birth certificate to go back to Barbados to join the army. She only came for a month but she birth paper took a while,” the mother explained.
The distraught woman said Daniel was the youngest of her two children; she described him as a leader and said that he was always jovial. He joined the GDF four years ago.
“He always friendly, he like to party and he had a lot of friends,” the mother said.
The young man celebrated his 26th birthday on August 30 and his death remains a shock to family and friends.
Police Headquarters revealed while the couple were making their way home Wednesday night when an unknown male approached them from a northern direction discharged six rounds in their direction.
They both fell off the motorcycle and were picked up by Daniel’s brother and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where they were pronounced dead.
Police said the GDF rank received a gunshot wound to his chest while Hodge received three shots – one to the chest, one to her right knee and one to the right side abdomen which exited the left side abdomen.
Regional Commander, Senior Superintendent Simon McBean told the News Room that no one has been arrested and investigations are ongoing.
“We are looking at all possible leads, but I would not be in a position to say what are the leads because it’s an integral part of the investigation,” the Commander said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Guyana Police Force initially identified the woman as Shanicka Forde but subsequently corrected it to Sheniqua Hodge.
