Drakes murder a mystery to his girlfriend

Three days have passed since Lawrence Drakes was gunned down by two men in front of Bonny’s Supermarket on Church Street and despite investigations the police have failed to arrest a suspect in the murder.

Drakes, according to the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), was deported from the United States of America twice. He was deported in 1991 after serving a prison sentence for drugs. Then in 2001 he was sent home after serving a 36-month prison sentence for illegal entry.

Stabroek News yesterday spoke with the dead man’s girlfriend and the woman said that she was still in shock over the incident. According to the woman during the two years that they had been together he never had a problem with anyone.

She told this newspaper that the only arguments he got into was with her. The young woman said that she learnt of the incident through a friend who had called her shortly after it happened.

Asked about Drakes’ relatives, she said that they are all abroad and they have not made contact with her but she knows that they will be in the country soon. When questioned about his deportee status, the woman said she knew nothing of it adding that when the relationship began it was all about the future and not the past. She said that he knew her family and she knew his and the past was never an issue.

She told this newspaper that Drakes opened his business place on the Merriman Mall almost two years ago operating an internet caf