A taxi driver was on Saturday night shot after a well-known gold and diamond dealer reportedly passed in a car and sprayed the Rockie’s business place on Light Street with bullets.
According to police, at about 21:15, taxi-driver Troy Anthony Patrice of Lodge Housing Scheme, George-town, was standing on the roadway at Robb and Light streets when shots were discharged at him by persons who escaped in a motor vehicle.
He was struck to his body and has been hospitalized, the police said in a release.
According to sources the businessman, accompanied by his security personnel, passed the business place and fired three shots and that Patrice was “just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Following the shooting, the police visited the scene and removed one 9mm spent shell and according to reports they were told that the businessman was clearly identified in the black car from which the shots rang out.
Stabroek News was told that the businessman, a Brazilian, is well known for such behaviour.
A reliable source said that there is no dispute between the businessman and the business enterprise but it appears as if he was intoxicated and was just behaving recklessly. The source pointed out that the businessman has heavily armed security personnel who would be with him whenever he is in public.
The source said that amazingly, following the shooting the businessman turned up at the location and bought an alcoholic beverage before leaving. Later in the night he called repeatedly to persons in the vicinity to ascertain what was happening.
Reports are that the businessman has since approached the taxi driver and offered a large sum of money to settle the matter.
According to one source, earlier in the evening the man was at another entertainment establishment where he ‘was drunk as a fish” and had to be spoken to. He later “passed out on a table and they had to lift him out.”
