A strange killing at Camp Jaguar – David La Rose was certain that his son’s death was no suicide…

Jun 30, 2019 Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

On Tuesday, April 11, 1995, the sound of a gunshot echoed around Camp Jaguar, the Guyana National Service (GNS) base located in the New River Triangle, Berbice.
A GNS rank rushed to the arms store from where the sound had come.
According to the rank, he found Carlos La Rose, a 21-year-old Guyana Defence Force lieutenant, who was in charge of the arms store, lying sprawled on his back on the floor.
He had been shot in the head. A G3 assault rifle was between his legs with the muzzle pointing towards the victim’s head. A portion of a bullet was located three feet from the corpse.
Three days later, pathologist Dr. Leslie Mootoo performed an autopsy on La Rose’s body. He found that there was gunpowder residue on the dead soldier’s right hand.
Police investigators were told that only La Rose had access to the arms store keys. Officials from the Guyana National Service eventually sent out a statement which said that the young lieutenant had inflicted the fatal wound on himself. One official even suggested that La Rose was frustrated at not being granted leave, and had attempted to shoot himself in the hand, so he could be sent off the base. It was suggested that the rifle recoiled and La Rose accidentally shot himself in the head.
The young soldier was buried without being given a military funeral and that, it seemed, was the end of the matter.
But his father, David La Rose, refused to believe that his son had done something so dishonourable. As far as he knew, Carlos had loved the army. And there were other things about the case that bothered him.
David La Rose, a former policeman, knew a thing or two about firearms, and one of the things that he found strange was the report that his son had shot himself in the head with a G3 rifle. In his opinion, it would have been very difficult for his son to have inflicted the fatal injury with this weapon. After all, Carlos was in charge of the arms store. Why, David La Rose wondered, had his son not used a firearm that was more easily managed, such as a handgun, to shoot himself?
In addition, Mr. La Rose had been told that the bullet had penetrated the front of his son’s skull. But the ex-cop observed that a portion of his son’s skull had been blown away, while there was another much smaller hole in the skull. He suspected that Carlos had in fact been shot in the back of the head, and that the bullet had exited at the front of the skull.
David La Rose told everyone who would listen to him that someone had murdered Carlos. His theory was that his son had stumbled on some illegal activity and that persons involved in this activity had taken measures to silence him.
Convinced that his son was the victim of foul play, Mr. La Rose and other family members began a relentless campaign to have the death investigated. He appeared on television with photographs of his son’s body and expounded on his murder theory. He also wrote to the Presidential Secretariat, expressing his suspicions and asking that an investigation be conducted into his son’s death.
Eventually, the La Rose family persuaded legal authorities to hold an inquest into the lieutenant’s death. Family members were allowed to attend and ask questions. The inquest began on Wednesday, June 26, 1996, and it was then that some strange facts began to emerge.
First, an eyewitness testified that the G3 rifle found near La Rose belonged to another GNS rank. The witness could not account for the whereabouts of La Rose’s rifle.
Then Forensic Pathologist Dr. Leslie Mootoo testified that he had observed a wound on La Rose’s left hand while examining the body. A portion of the victim’s skull was missing and death was due to a fractured skull and laceration of the brain. He also said that the tests on La Rose’s right hand proved positive for evidence of gunpowder.
Asked by the prosecutor if he believed that La Rose had killed himself, Dr. Mootoo said that the injuries could have been self-inflicted.
According to Dr. Mootoo, La Rose could have inflicted the wound while sitting in a chair, or if he had the weapon between his feet and accidentally pulled the trigger while asleep.
But on being questioned further by the prosecutor, the pathologist said that La Rose could also have been shot during a scuffle with someone. On being questioned by the dead soldier’s father, Dr. Mootoo stressed that he had never said that La Rose had committed suicide.
The last witness, Assistant Superintendent of Police Winston Adams, revealed that no attempts were made to lift fingerprints from the weapon that was found near La Rose’s body. He also said he had not taken the dead man’s fingerprints, or the prints of other ranks who were on the base at the time.
A brother of the dead lieutenant suggested that the policeman should have taken these prints to ascertain whether La Rose or someone else had fired the rifle. The policeman was also unable to say whether ballistic tests were carried out to ascertain if the warhead found near La Rose’s body was from the same weapon that was found at the scene.
Finally, in late October 1996, a jury ruled that La Rose was shot in the head during a struggle “with a person or persons.” After the ruling, a relieved David La Rose requested that the police reopen investigations in an attempt to identify his son’s killers.
Family members also said they wanted an apology from army and police officials for suggesting that the young lieutenant had killed himself or shot himself accidentally.
But no investigation was carried out.
Today, more than two decades later, family members still have no idea how Lieutenant Carlos La Rose ended up with a bullet in his head at Camp Jaguar.

If you have any further information about this or any other strange case, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown location, or reach us on telephone numbers 22-58458, 22-58465, 22-58473, or 22-58491.
You can also contact Michael Jordan on his email address: [email protected]. You need not disclose your identity.

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