Almost three weeks have passed since Sheriff taxi driver Keith Bowen was found on Sussex Street, West La Penitence, with a fatal gunshot wound to the head and police are yet to make an arrest or determine a motive for the killing.

Keith Bowen

Contacted recently, Commander of `A’ Division (Georgetown) Leroy Brumell told Stabroek News that there has been no breakthrough in the case but ranks have been “getting some information.” He pointed out that investigators are still looking to identify a suspect in the matter. In the meantime investigations are continuing.

Bowen, known as “Keitho”, appeared to be the victim of an apparent carjacking but the fatal gunshot wound and the subsequent recovery of his intact vehicle have raised suspicion that the perpetrator(s)’s intention was to kill him.

Many close to the Vigilance, East Coast Demerara resident, questioned why he would have been shot in the head, if the killer(s) were only after his car. No one reported any ongoing problems between him and anyone.

Residents of the area had told Stabroek News on March 19 that they saw a white car leaving the area where the man was found, seconds after a gunshot was heard.

It was around 8 pm, that a car stopped briefly on the dark road near the entrance to the `Island’ at West La Penitence. An explosion rang out shortly after and the vehicle then drove off. An elderly woman subsequently found Bowen, lying just off the road, bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the right side of his head. He was transported to the Georgetown Hospital where he died while undergoing treatment.

Bowen’s dark grey car bearing number plate HB 264 and the taxi service’s logo was found abandoned on Princes Street in the vicinity of Lombard Street around 7:30 the following morning. There were bloodstains on the driver’s seat and on the inside of one of the doors.

The last contact anyone had with the man was around 8:30 on the morning of March 19, when he made his last drop and contacted the base saying that his car was overheating. The man did not pick up his 7-year-old son from school and never went home.