Five persons shot, two killed in five-day shooting spree

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has recorded a bloody five days where five persons have been shot in four separate incidents, two of which were fatal.
The latest violent incident that brought the homicide count here to 39 took place sometime after 12:00 a.m Thursday in Villa.

The homicide count is one shy of the record 40 killings recorded in 2016.

Reports are that Marcus “Royee” Samuel was leaving a popular hangout spot in the Boardwalk area when his car was riddled with bullets.

Shortly after the shooting, videos started making the rounds on social media showing what appears to be the 42-year-old man’s final moments, him in his car, laid back gasping for breath.

Other videos and photos also started making the rounds, one showing the dead man’s white Suzuki car riddled with bullets mainly on the windscreen on the driver’s side.

THE BULLET-RIDDLED white Suzuki car in which Marcus Royee Samuel was driving when he was shot and killed while leaving the Boardwalk area in Villa early Thursday morning.

Reports are that the police may have recovered over 40 spent shells from the scene of the shooting.

People who knew Samuel well described the Barrouallie father who resided in Belair as a friendly person who was always ready with a smile. He was a businessman who owned a pirogue and was involved in the seafood export industry.

Samuel’s killing was the second shooting death this week. On Tuesday morning, December 13, Jason “2B” Henry, a Lowmans Leeward resident was shot and killed in the vicinity of the Apostolic Faith Mission Church, a short distance away from his home.

A neighbour of Henry’s said she heard gunshots ring out around 1:22 a.m and later that morning around 6:00 a.m, Henry’s body was discovered with bullet wounds. He was said to have been hanging out at a village shop and was making his way home.

In 2007, Henry and another man were charged for a triple murder but were freed in 2009. Then in 2014, Henry and the same man were charged for the murder of another man but were again freed.

Also, three men were shot in two separate incidents between Sunday and Monday,December 12, less than 24 hours apart, and were sent to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), to treat their wounds.

And, on Sunday around 11:00 p.m., three gunshots rang out on Canouan in the Grand Bay area. After the noise died down, a man who carries the alias “Blow Way’’ was rushed to the MCMH by Coast Guard. He is said to be in a stable condition and nursing a chest wound.

Then about three hours later at about 2:00 a.m at Lowman’s Bay, Frenches resident, 34-year-old Diallo Small, and Long Wall resident, 29-year-old Kyle Ragguette were leaving Magnum Splash, an event which was held at Pirate’s Cove, when the black sedan they were in was riddled with bullets.

Small was hit five times, three bullets to his upper body and two in his leg/foot area, while Ragguette was struck once in his upper right thigh and two times in his right foot.

The men were rushed to the MCMH where they were treated and are in said to be in stable condition. Police are investigating.

Small is no stranger to the media. In November, 2017 he was fined $20,000 for having in his possession on December 28, 2015, 131 hundred dollar notes which he knew or believed to be counterfeit.

Then in August 2020, Small and three men, one of them Ragguette and the other Noval Sayers, a 32-year-old labourer of Brighton, were detained but never charged in relation to a robbery which took place at Wilson Enterprises Inc. (Sol Gas Station) in Arnos Vale.

It is also alleged that last September, threats heard during an apparent leaked voice note were being issued to Small.

After the voice recording that promised “no white flag can’t wave in this…no peace treaty, no surrender”, and the killing of civilians, one of the men alleged to have been responsible for the threats was caught with an illegal firearm in Glen.

The man Zouck “Spider” Mills later pleaded guilty to a charge that on September 7, 2022, at Glen, he had in his possession one .38 Smith and Wesson revolver, serial number unknown, without a license issued under the Firearms Act, and six rounds of .38 ammunition. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison.

It is also alleged that the threats were issued over the Saturday September 3, 2022 shooting death of Mosiah “Siah” Westfield, a labourer of Ottley Hall who sustained multiple gunshot wounds about his body and was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting in his home community.

RELATED ARTICLE: Cousin of fatal shooting victim, Jason Henry, believes his past may have followed him.