Youth shot in hills

Two days short of his 23rd birthday, Leondro Alexander was rushed to the Chateaubelair Hospital with gun shot wounds to his left leg.{{more}}

The shooting took place around 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday at De Volet, a tiny settlement on the northwestern coast, south west of the Falls of Baleine.

Alexander told SEARCHLIGHT that he was about to relieve himself in some bushes when he was accosted by a young man who told him that he (Alexander) had cut down some bushes and made the wind blow down his shanty. Alexander said that he offered to pay for the tarpaulin, but another youngster came up and said to the man, “Don’t bother with he, me go deal wid he gee yo”.

Alexander said that when he turned his back to go about his business, the youth who had accosted him breached the shotgun that was slung over his shoulder and shot him from behind in the left calf.

Alexander was taken to Chateaubelair in a speedboat, where he was given emergency treatment at the hospital, then sent to Rose Hall, where the District Doctor was holding clinic, for further assessment and treatment.

At press time, Alexander was recovering at the Male Surgical Ward of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) in Kingstown. “I want some justice,” he said. Alexander is originally from Grenada but presently lives at Sion Hill.

At 2:00 p.m. on the same day, 18-year-old Keyon Phillips was escorted out of the mountains by “hillsmen” and handed over to the Chateaubelair police. A police spokesman told SEARCHLIGHT that Phillips was transferred into the custody of the Layou police, as there are no cells at the temporary location of the Chateaubelair police station. Up to press time, Phillips had not been charged.