Guard succumbs after shooting which left him paralysed

Close to a month after he was allegedly shot over an old grievance by a colleague at a Dazzle Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara (ECD) supermarket, 25-year-old security guard Gerald Anthony Sobers has succumbed to his injuries.

Sobers of Paradise, ECD sustained a gunshot wound to his neck during the July 3, 2023 incident.

His sister, Joy Sobers, told the News Room in a telephone interview that the wound damaged the man’s spinal cord, causing him to lose mobility from his chest down.

Since the incident, Sobers was hospitalised in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital in a critical state.

He succumbed while receiving medical attention on Saturday, July 29.

A Police investigation is said to be ongoing. However, to date the suspect, who is employed with a private security firm where Sobers also worked, is yet to be apprehended.

According to Joy, she learnt that her brother was visiting his brother-in-law at his West Coast of Demerara (WCD) home when he reportedly received a call from a supervisor, who owned him some money.

The supervisor, Joy said, reportedly asked Sobers to come to ECD.

“He came over with his brother-in-law bike and he end up by my cousin them where he was staying…My cousin asked him to drop her by a friend,” Joy told the News Room.

Shortly after, Joy said the cousin recalled hearing an explosion which sound like a squib.

“And she asked, ‘What happened?’ and my cousin, one of them, say he (Sobers) get shoot,” she noted.

It is believed that the incident stemmed from an encounter Sobers and the suspect had about three weeks before the shooting, during which the suspect had allegedly attempted to shoot him with his service weapon.

“There was an issue with he (Sobers) and this person (suspect). My brother wasn’t on duty but this guy was. He (Sobers) went to borrow this electric bike and like the guy refuse to lend him and there was a back and forth cross talk,” Joy explained.

And in a fit of rage, the suspect allegedly shot Sobers.

Joy said she is hoping that the matter will be investigated thoroughly and that efforts will be made to locate and arrest the suspect.