Clothes vendor fatally shot after trying to part fight

Dead: Carlos Waithe
Dead: Carlos Waithe

A man was fatally shot in the wee hours of Monday at Leopold Street while he was attempting to part a fight between his friends.

Dead is 24-year-old Carlos DeShawn Waithe, a clothes vendor of Lot 2 Norton Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown.

A Guyana Police Force (GPF) press release said the fatal shooting occurred at about 04:00 hrs along Leopold Street, between Breda and Smyth streets.

A steel door in the area that was shot during the early morning fracas (Orlando Charles photo)
The area where Carlos Waithe was shot on Leopold Street (Orlando Charles photo)

According to the GPF, the now deceased and several friends had been drinking earlier in the night in Charlestown, after which Waithe left to go to a popular bar on Breda Street.

At about 04:00 hrs, Waithe showed up at the popular bar in the company of a man, who became involved in an argument with several other men at the bar. Waithe’s companion then ran east on Leopold Street towards Smyth Street, with the other men giving chase.

During the chase, several explosions, suspected to be gunshots, were heard. The police reported that Waithe also ran behind the men, shouting, “Y’all can’t shoot da man!” The men then turned on Waithe and an argument ensued, during which two more suspected gunshots were heard and Waithe subsequently fell to the ground.

The wounded Waithe was subsequently picked up and taken to the Woodlands Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

No one was arrested up to last evening.

According to Waithe’s mother, Shawna Romain, she received a phone call at around 04:00 hrs about her son being shot in Leopold Street.

The woman stated that she was told that he was trying to part his friends who were fighting when shots were fired into the air and he was hit in his head. “He trying to make peace between he friends, because he know both parties and so gunshot start firing in the air and that’s when he get it in he head,” said the grieving mother.

Romain noted that the fight was over an old grievance. “It was over some long beef and only now the friends them meet up, so he (Carlos) was trying to part the fight and he get shoot in he head,” the woman stated.

Romain noted that after her son was shot he was robbed of his gold chain, a gold band and US currency. (Aviso Paul)