15-Y-O among two dead as late-night shooting in Buxton leaves several others injured

Police are investigating a deadly shooting which occurred just before midnight on Tuesday at Middle Walk, Buxton, East Coast Demerara, leaving two men dead and at least six others nursing serious injuries.

Dead are 15-year-old Leon McFarlene of Lot 71 Middle Walk, Buxton, and 38-year-old businessman Mark Anthony Correia of Lot 75 Republic Drive, Beterverwagting.

Those wounded in what Police are treating as attempted murder are Linden Adams, 60, of Side Line Dam, Buxton; Alwin Fiffee, 54, of Middle Walk, Buxton; Davel Talbot, 26, a Special Constable of Middle Walk, Buxton; Akeem Tuman, 18, of Middle Walk, Buxton; Sherwin Nero, 35, of Friendship, ECD; and a 17-year-old male whose name is being withheld.

Investigators say the group was gathered at a shop owned by Asha Robinson, a 41-year-old businesswoman, socialising and playing cards and dominoes when the attack occurred.

Robinson told Police she retired to bed around 11 p.m., leaving the men inside her shop. Just before midnight, she was awakened by the sound of multiple gunshots. On checking, she found Correia slumped over a table, bleeding heavily from his mouth, nose, and back.

She raised an alarm and with the help of neighbours, the wounded were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). McFarlene was pronounced dead on arrival. His body bore suspected gunshot wounds to the right hand, chest, face, forearm, and right foot.

Correia’s body was taken to the Enmore Regional Hospital where he too was pronounced dead. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the back, shoulder, face, palm, and head.

Both bodies have been sent for post-mortem examinations — McFarlene’s at the GPHC Mortuary and Correia’s at Memorial Gardens Funeral Home.

Those injured remain hospitalised at GPHC, receiving treatment for suspected gunshot wounds.

Crime scene investigators recovered forty spent shells of varying calibres (.40, 5.56×45, and 7.62×39), along with four projectiles and two fragments, all of which have been lodged as evidence.

Police have since received reports that a silver motorcar, believed to be used by the shooters, was seen circling the area moments before the attack. The suspects are said to have fled in the same car, bearing registration number PVV 7616 or 7661.

One of the wounded men is reportedly entangled in an ongoing conflict with a gang known as ‘Team Diamond’. He is currently under Police guard as investigators pursue leads into what appears to be a targeted gang-related shooting.

Editor’s note: The Guyana Police Force initially reported that McFarlene was 17 years old. However, the News Room was informed that he was 15.