Murdered Coast Guard Lieutenant Rondel Douglas laid to rest

An icon, peacemaker, role model and the backbone of his family.

Those were among adjectives used to describe Coast Guard Lieutenant Rondel Douglas as family, friends and law enforcement officers paid their final tribute to the Guyana Defence Force officer during a viewing ahead of a funeral service at the Lyken’s Funeral home on Monday.

Music, memories and tears flowed as hundreds joined the cue to get their final glance of Lieutendent Douglas.

Decked in their uniforms, his colleagues gave their final salute to the officer who served with commitment and dedication throughout his career.

For those who knew him, Lieutenant Douglas impacted their lives in some way or the other and his legacy will forever live on.

Still trying to accept his death, Douglas’ sister Latoya said he was the backbone of his family.

“He was very much a family person, God fearing; in all a very wonderful soul. He was basically the backbone for the family,” Latoya reflected while being comforted by relatives.

“This is the hardest thing for anybody to deal with right now. It’s really hard,” she said.

For many of his colleagues and friends, Douglas was the intelligent one, who led by setting an example.

“He always been the peacemaker…He was a star. There can never be a replacement of Rondel Douglas,” Odessa Debarros, a former colleague shared.

Meanwhile, one of Douglas’ longtime friend, Eon Campbell, said he was a role model to him.

“He was very articulate. He was probably one of the few persons I never heard spoke one word of broken English. We didn’t know…our path would have crossed and we would have gotten so deep,” Campbell said.

“Many times when we are in battles, even now and when I was a young teenager, I always asked myself, ‘If Rondel was in the situation what Rondel would have done?’

“That’s how I would actually come out of my own personal sorrows and troubles. By using Rondel as somewhat of an icon or a role model”.

Lieutenant Douglas was a husband and father.

The 33-year-old worked as a part time taxi driver. He was shot and killed on the evening on June 7 as he put up a fight with two men, one of whom posed as a customer and robbed him of his car.

Draped with a flag of Guyana, Lieutenant Douglas’ casket was hoisted out of the parlour and placed into the hearse as the funeral possession made its way to Stanleytown on the West Bank of Demerara for a funeral service followed by burial at La Grange cemetery, West Bank Demerara.