A Sophia man was shot dead during the wee hours of yesterday morning, moments after he held up a licensed firearm holder and his sister as they exited a popular city night spot and demanded their valuables.
He has been identified as 20-year-old Isaiah Lennox Marques, a construction worker, of Lot 383 ‘B’ Field, Sophia. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after he sustained a single gunshot wound to his head.
The police said in a press release that the incident occurred around 2 am yesterday when Carl Haynes, who is attached to a private security company, and his sister Rayon Haynes were walking along Second Street, Campbellville. They were held up by Marques who was armed with a firearm.
The release said they resisted and Marques pulled the trigger of his firearm, but the weapon snapped. At this point, Carl Haynes pulled out his service firearm and shot at Marques.
An unlicensed .32 revolver was recovered and investigations into the matter are ongoing.
Reports gathered by this newspaper revealed that Carl Haynes had gone to Club Monaco on Sheriff Street to pick up his sister and it was while they were proceeding to their car that they were held at gunpoint by Marques. The armed man demanded that the man and his sibling hand over all their valuables, but they refused.
As a result, Marques reportedly held on to Rayon Haynes and squeezed the trigger of the gun. In fear for his life and that of his sister, Carl Haynes discharged a round in the direction of Marques which hit him to the head and he fell to the ground.
Marques had faced a series of charges during periods of 2013 and one as recent as last year, all of which are currently still before the court. The charges include five counts of armed robbery, break and enter and larceny and possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
When Stabroek News visited the dead man’s house yesterday, relatives and friends were seen consoling his aunt and great grandmother.
According to the aunt, who preferred not to be named, the family received a phone call around 2.10 am yesterday informing them that Marques had been shot to the head and he subsequently died.
The woman said the last time she saw her nephew alive was on Sunday evening when he left with some friends to visit the Kitty seawall for a normal weekly hang. She said although she was not present at the time of the incident, based on what she gathered he went to Club Monaco after visiting the seawall with his friends. “When he go there I don’t know what transpired and he get shoot. But what I hearing now, is some robbery or something like that he went in,” the aunt explained.
She declared, “He was a good child…, I never know he does get into them things like that.” She added, “Boy will be boys, you know they does get in they lil police story and so and I think one time he even went in jail but wah we gone do?”
Marques’s body is currently at the GPH mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination which is scheduled for tomorrow.
He leaves to mourn his parents, five siblings and a three-year-old daughter.
