Security guard charged with murder of Rondell Clarke

A 25-year-old security guard was on Friday charged with the murder of 29-year-old Rondell Clarke, who was shot and killed on June 8.

Messiah Mussenden of Buxton/Friendship, East Coast Demerara, was arraigned before Magistrate Sunil Scarce at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court where he was read the murder charge, which states that he fatally shot Clarke, on June 8, at Foulis, East Coast Demerara.

He was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was remanded to prison. The matter was adjourned until July 15, 2025 and it was transferred to the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court for report and filing of statement.

The incident occurred between 19:30 and 19:45 hrs along Second Street in the community and the security guard was arrested by police shortly after.

Following his shooting, Clarke was picked up in a conscious state by police ranks and transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he was admitted to the critical surgical bay. Despite the efforts of medical staff, he succumbed to his injuries at approximately 20:20 hrs the same night.

During a post-mortem examination performed on Wednesday, investigators recovered a damaged metal fragment from Clarke’s body. That fragment was immediately sent to the Crime Laboratory of the Criminal Investigations Department for ballistic analysis. Experts have since concluded that the fragment was discharged from an AR rifle issued to the security guard. Further examination also linked a 9mm spent shell casing recovered from the crime scene, which was issued to another security guard there that night.

However, police have made it “unequivocally clear” that the fatal shot which led to Clarke’s death came specifically from the AR rifle in the possession of Mussendeen.