On September 28, 2019, 20-year-old Melita Antigua and her boyfriend Ian Williams were in his car at Lover’s Lane, Amelia’s Ward Linden when the unthinkable happened.
Gunmen in another car opened fire on them at around 20:15hrs.
Antigua was shot to the left side back but the bullet miraculously exited on the right side and left her with only a broken rib; she was also shot in the left leg and the bullet exited the other side. At the time, she didn’t even know she was pregnant.
Her boyfriend was shot multiple times and died on the spot. The couple was together for about a year, and according to Antigua, he was very caring and loving.
“We used to go like everywhere together; we did a lot of things together and everything…I never knew about any bad side or any bad things he did. I don’t know why they were after him,” Antigua said.
Antigua said she was at a party when her boyfriend came to meet her that tragic night.
“….he message me saying that he was coming to see me. I told him that I will walk out and he will reach me on the corner. When I entered the car we sat and talked for like five minutes before some young men started shooting up the car,” she related.
She said her boyfriend managed to drive the car and they ended up in a bushy area.
“…everything just went so fast I didn’t realize which street we went through.”
But the gunmen followed them and continued to shoot at them. Somehow the young couple managed to get out of the bullet riddled car and started to run for their lives.
“We were running together and then I got shot. After I got shot in my leg, I fell and he ran away and then this person just came over me and shoot me in my back again and I really don’t know what happened after,” Antigua said.
While still in a state of shock, Antigua said she got up after the gunmen followed her boyfriend and left her lying on the road. She ran to the road and caught a car which took her to the Linden Hospital Complex.
She only spent six days in the hospital.
Now eight months after the shooting, Antigua is due to deliver a baby boy at the end of May. She explained that she had no idea that she was pregnant until after she was shot.
“In the hospital, I was vomiting all the time but they couldn’t seem to find a reason why, so they did multiple tests and they didn’t find any reason for the vomiting and they did a pregnancy test and that is when I found out,” Antigua said.
She told the News Room how she managed to stay strong and get through this tragedy.
“I does try not to think about it and try to be strong, before I found out I was pregnant it was really hard but when I found out, the state of depression was not good for me or the baby so I had to motivate myself…they are people that support me, my family and everybody else, it was the help of them and everybody else so I get along just fine.”
The motive for the shooting remains unclear but the News Room understands that Williams was caught up in an ongoing gang feud in the mining town. He is reportedly a cousin of former policeman and alleged gang leader, Teon Allen, known as ‘Spoil Child’.
On Monday last 23-year-old Lennox Estwic of Lot 640 South Amelia’s Ward Linden was charged for the murder of Williams and attempted murder of Antigua. He appeared in the Linden Magistrate’s Court.
This is according to the Regional Commander, Hugh Winter who told the News Room that Estwic was remanded to prison until June 08, 2020. He was also arrested for the murder of gold miner, Deon Stoll, who was gunned down in front of the El Dorado Trading establishment at Lot 63 Da Silva Street, Newtown Kitty Georgetown on October 14, 2019.
On October 07, 2019 the Guyana Police Force also issued wanted bulletins for six men in connection with the shooting of Williams and Antigua.
