Cops probing possibility of link between Forbes, Mingo murders

Police investigators are working to ascertain whether there is a link between the recent Orange Walk shooting which left a Jamaican man dead and the execution of Denzil Mingo, Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell has said.

Up to press time last evening no arrests had been made in relation to the two shooting incidents.

“I have been hearing some things but we are working on it. I don’t want to say that they are linked but we are working on it,” he said when quizzed by reporters.

Patrick Forbes
Patrick Forbes
Denzil Mingo
Denzil Mingo

Sources close to both men had told this newspaper that the first incident was an execution, while the second was a revenge killing. Based on what this newspaper was told the two men knew each other.

To date, police have been unable to come up with any motive for either killing.

Brumell stressed that the force will continue making efforts to tackle the crime situation that has raised tension levels. In the past week, about ten persons have died as a result of violent situations. Most of them were shot.

Patrick Forbes, a Jamaican businessman, died last Thursday one day after he was shot multiple times while standing with a group of friends at Orange Walk, Bourda.

According to reports, Forbes, 36, of Lance Gibbs Street, Queenstown, succumbed to his injuries at a private city hospital. He was hit to his abdomen and right thigh. It is believed that Forbes, who was shot several years ago in his native country, was the intended target.

Then around 4 am on Saturday, Denzil Mingo, a 21-year-old resident of Third Street, Alberttown and former army second lieutenant was shot dead moments after he walked out of a Main Street nightclub.

Police had said in their press release that two men with firearms opened fire on Mingo, Joseph Barker and Earlson Murray while they were in a motor vehicle.

“Denzil Mingo was hit several times about the body and was pronounced DOA at the GPHC, while Joseph Barker was struck about the body and has been admitted to hospital,” the police release said.

Stabroek News understands that Murray escaped with a minor injury to the back of the neck.

The car was badly damaged by the gunfire.

According to an eyewitness, Mingo of Lot 39 Third Street, Alberttown, had an argument with another man earlier inside the Edge Nightclub. After Mingo and his two friends left, the eyewitness said, he heard gunfire and then saw a man jumping into a vehicle on the other side of the road.