A Layou man who survived an attempt on his life five years ago was gunned down in the Central Leeward town Sunday night, bringing the homicide count this year to 47.
Tambu Patrick, 39, was shot multiple times by assailant(s) who pursued him even as he attempted to find refuge in a nearby home in Ruthland Vale.
Residents of the town speculated that the death was linked to a shooting incident in Layou Tuesday night in which a man was grazed by a bullet when he was attacked on his way home.
iWitness News was reliably informed that there were multiple bullet holes in the house in which Patrick was presumably hoping to find refuge as he was being shot at.
One source said that Patrick shouted “Oh gawd” as he was being attacked. He collapsed and died outside of the house, bringing to two the number of people shot and killed in Layou in less than a month.
A vehicle that was reportedly parked in a dark section of road nearby left shortly after the shooting, fuelling speculations that the assailant(s) used it to flee the scene.
Among the officers on the scene Sunday night were detective acting Assistant Commissioner of Police with responsibility for crime fighting, Trevor “Buju” Bailey and head of the Major Crime Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police Oswin Elgin Richards.
Outside the police cordon, Patrick’s cousin, Kenlyn Maingot told iWitness News that she was in the neighbouring village of Buccament Bay when she got word that he had been killed.
She said she had seen and spoken to him minutes before his death.
“I’m feeling so sad that my cousin got shot because I passed him on the street and I called out to him and tell him I was going to Buccament,” Maingot told iWitness News in an interview live on Facebook.
She described Patrick as a quiet and nice person who hardly spoke.
Maingot told iWitness News that Patrick never complained about being in conflict with anyone.
“He always humble,” she said but acknowledged that he was shot a few years ago.
“He even went to jail for gun, ammunition,” Maingot told iWitness News.
Maingot said that Patrick’s father was immobile because of a stroke.
She complained that police officers were not allowing her to see his body at the scene.
“That is our cousin. … before I went to Buccament, I passed him on the street over there, I called out to him, he said he is going home.
“It’s like five minutes after somebody could call me from England and tell me he died. And now I ask the officer if I could see him, the officer said to me I have to wait until he gets to the mortuary.”
Asked whether she was sure she wanted to see her relative on the scene where he was gunned down, she said, “I want to see him.
“I now buried a family for me today. At least, let me see my cousin so I could know,” Maingot told iWitness News.
IWitness News was present earlier when a senior officer told Maingot that she would have to wait until the scene was processed before police consider her request to view Patrick’s body there.
At the time, homicide investigators were yet to arrive and the district medical officer was yet to officially pronounce Patrick dead.
On March 14, 2018, about 9:23 p.m., unknown person(s) shot Patrick and Stokey Quashie, both labourers, of Layou.
They were treated at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital and later released.
Then, in January 2020, Patrick was found guilty of charges that on April 11, 2018, at Layou, he had in possession one Taurus 9 mm pistol and 17 rounds of 9mm ammunition without a licence issued under the Firearms Act.
He was also convicted of two counts of assaulting a police officer and one count of damaging a bulletproof vest, the property of the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Patrick was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for the fire arm, 18 months for the ammunition and six months on each charge of assaulting a police officer.
He was also ordered to pay compensation of EC$235 forthwith for the damage to the bullet proof vest or spend two months in prison. The sentences were to run concurrently.
Patrick’s death is the third homicide in SVG this weekend.
The country recorded two homicides Friday night with the deaths of Maurice Primus, of Fair Hall, and Zachari “Zack” McIntosh, of Calliaqua, in unrelated incidents.
Police said on Sunday that Primus, a 31-year-old labourer was discovered unresponsive with injuries to his body along Fair Hall Public Road sometime after 10 p.m. on Friday.
About 10:20 p.m. Friday, the Calliaqua Police received an anonymous call stating that a male was seen lying on the Fair Hall Public Road.
“A party of police officers headed by Inspector Ashlyn Samuel-Bristol immediately left the station for the scene of the incident. On arrival at the crime scene, the deceased was found lying on his back motionless with what appeared to be bullet wounds on his body,” police said in a press statement.
Meanwhile, a statement said that a resident of Calliaqua was in police custody as the main suspect in a report of grievous bodily harm which resulted in Mc Intosh’s death.
Police said the report was made to the Calliaqua Police Station on Friday.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that on Tuesday, October 31, 2023, Mc Intosh was wounded by the suspect during an altercation. He received injuries to his body and was taken to the Calliaqua Health Centre for treatment on Wednesday, November 01, 2023. Later the same day, Mc Intosh was transferred to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital and succumbed to his injuries on Friday, November 03, 2023.”
iWitness News was reliably informed that the suspect is a close relative of the deceased man.
Police said post-mortems will be conducted on the bodies and are asking people with information that can assist their investigations to call 999/911, any police station or to speak with any police officer with whom you are comfortable.
Police say that all information will be treated confidentially.
Meanwhile, late Sunday night, the police force announced a press conference for Monday morning, the first since Enville Williams became acting Commissioner of Police in early October.
Some of the officers who head the crime unit would have been relieved of their duties if they were in a foreign jurisdiction. Since Buju Bailey took over as the Guru of fighting cries has ratio of solving crimes increase? From all accounts that ratio has become dismal over the years.
If his communication skills is an indication of his effectiveness no wonder why we are in this predicament. The Minister of security needs to enlist foreign help in teach people like Buju the art of fighting crimes. Then and only then would we be in a better position to solve some of our heinous crimes .
It would appear that Patrick was a gun Slinger, he was convicted of having in his possession a 9 mm without a license. All these alleged killer have a common denominator, they have no regard for rhe law at a point in their lives.
Believe me, Patrick’s death is not under the rug. The police in St Vincent have something to do with Patrick’s death. The police in St Vincent took his American passport for him and wouldn’t give it back to him so he could come back to America. Every time he went to the Barracks to get his passport, they would not give it to him and told him to come back. The police knew what they were doing so he wouldn’t back to the United States of America. The passport was an American passport. It didn’t belong to St Vincent and the Grenadines. The police didn’t want him to come back to America. Because they wanted him to get killed in St Vincent. They knew what they were doing for him not to get his passport.His blood is on the policies hand.
Why the police didn’t say they are one who shot Mr Patrick the first time, when he got shot before
You noticed that non of these chumps doesn’t have on a work boots. Live by the sword, you die by the sword. See you on the other side of life.
The police officer who took Mr Patrick’s passport from Patrick took his passport and traveled to come to the United States with Mr Patrick’s passport. That is how he got stuck in St Vincent. Some years ago he came to St Vincent and he and my cousins got into a fight with a police and they never forgave and held it again him. So they always looked at him as trouble.He kept on going to Barracks in Kingstown to get his passport and they kept on telling him they couldn’t find it.When they knew the police who took his passport and traveled with his passport to come to America.
The FBI and American Embassy will be investigate why Mr. Patrick did not got his passport to come back to United States.The passport it was not belong St Vincent and Grenadines. It were United States of America property.asked the police what they do with MR Patrick passport.
His father, now at death’s door, was found guilty several years ago for the illegal possession of a firearm but wickedly got off because of his advanced age.
Like father, like son, says I.
As for the son’s murder, long past time for the NDP to stop blaming Ralph for pathologies that lie in our minds, homes, and communities.
Stop the killings in SVG.
C.Ben -David so are you saying that Patrick father, the victim was a gunslinger? Why the police confiscated his passport?
C.Ben David you as a senior from Layou seems to have a lot of information. Why you did not state that the police had confiscated his American passport. You knew about that but found it necessary to hide that fact.
The police will be held responsible for this situation, especially considering the involvement of international authorities due to the suspect’s extensive family connections in North America. There is evidence of intercepted phone conversations that confirm the police’s involvement in Tambu’s death. It seems likely that this incident will mark the end of Ralph’s reign in power. It’s quite surprising how even members of their own force can be corrupted through bribery, which made it easy to obtain a straightforward answer regarding the identity of Tambu’s killer. I wish the best of luck to the officers involved in resolving this case. Unfortunately, the island seems to be plagued by a dark and sinister atmosphere, much like its prime minister.
The police will be held responsible for this situation, especially considering the potential involvement of international authorities due to the suspect’s extensive family connections in North America. There is evidence of intercepted phone conversations that confirm the police’s involvement in Tambu’s death. It seems likely that this incident will mark the end of Ralph’s reign in power. It’s quite surprising how even members of their own force can be corrupted through bribery, which makes it easy to obtain a straightforward answer regarding the identity of Tambu’s killer. I wish the best of luck to the officers involved in resolving this case. Unfortunately, the island seems to be plagued by a dark and sinister atmosphere, much like its prime minister.
The police in this country and the prime minister both need to be held accountable. Enville Williams, the responsibility lies with you for not returning Tambu’s passport, resulting in this tragic outcome. The involvement of global affairs has escalated the situation, and there is no escape from facing the consequences in the near future. It’s unfortunate that a country with a GDP of only 1 billion cannot compare to the wealth of a single affluent community in North America & United Kingdom , where most of Tambu’s family resides. This level of corruption is unacceptable. If the Saint Vincent police truly cared, they would prioritize stopping the violence and seek international support instead. They are fully aware of their actions, and it ends with Tambu’s death. I am confident that his family will exhaust all their resources to ensure these policemen are brought to trial. It’s important to note that Tambu, being an American, cannot simply be killed in a foreign country, regardless of whether he was a criminal or not. While he served his time, the fact that they remained silent about the previous incident suggests that this time they intentionally took his life.
Allan V. 1+1=11 in this case.Why didn’t Mr Patrick file a report or even call the US embassy in Barbados and let them know that the SVG police was illegally in possession of their document? Why didn’t Mr Patrick let them know that the SVG police was preventing(him) one of their citizens from leaving the country without just cause?That might of created a diplomatic firestorm bxt the US and SVG govt.If that was me I would of called the US embassy immediately and let them know who in possession of their legal document that I am responsible for then I would of just sat back and chill with a cold beer .Do a little more homework brother.
Go to hell C. Ben David
Dear C. BEN-DAVID, I don’t know what you think you know about my father or my brother but it is very distasteful and what you are saying about my father isn’t true. As for my brother, a police officer took his passport and since he was released he was trying to recover it. I don’t understand how a police station or a department can ” i doh know wey it dey” on someone’s important documents, but you’re not mentioning that bit. You’re being selective and trying to deface my father’s character.
J. Young do you know the real C.B-David? All i can say the community knows him well and is a senior who resides in Layou, but used that alias to hide his true identity. What i find interesting is that he knew about the police seize of the victim’s passport that prevented him from going back to the USA and was silent on that fact. I do not read his contribution , given that it is customary that he does not see out of the reasonable lens.
C.Ben-David what is so difficult in bein fair in your comments rather than being selective? Give the the public the whole story and let them decide for themselves.
Whoever wrote this article about my cousin /brother I hope you burn in hell for not being honest. The police in St. Vincent got him killed cause they been holding a grudge against him for a long time now… Trust and Believe his family in America will not let any of this go unjust!!! HE WILL NOT DIE IN VAIN, IN JESUS’ NAME, AMEN….
We have contacted the embassy in Barbados and the embassy contacted the chief of police about Mr. Patrick passport all of a sudden.They can find his passport.Why they didn’t gave it to him in the first place so he could of leave St Vincent and come back to America? The police them knew what they were doing. The next country we are going to email is United Kingdom and let they know what happened to Mr Patrick and how st. Vincent and the Grenadines police officers are Corrupt and they do not have any humanity for the citizens of St Vincent and Grenadines. The passport didn’t belong to st. Vincent and the Grenadines and they shouldn’t took it away from Mr. Patrick the first place.Mr Patrick blood is on the police forces in St Vincent.One thing God do not sleep.
For those of you who thinks that his killing is justifiable have a heart of stone and not of flesh. He did time for what the police charged him for but you wish to use his past to glorify what the police has now done to him. But I say to all of you, if you have never sinned, then cast the first stone. I am so happy that you all are not JESUS. Thank GOD! No one should die like that, but know, what goes around comes around. I know people in Layou know who did this and who has been committing those robberies and don’t want to report because the police department is a joke. But push will come to shove. Trust and believe me, the death of this gentle soul will not be in vain.