Latest update December 16th, 2024 9:00 AM
Man wanted for killing murder witness captured in New Amsterdam
Kaieteur News – A Sophia man wanted for the alleged killing of a murder witness in 2021 was on Sunday captured with an illegal gun at New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six.
Captured, John Kennedy also known as ‘Big John’
Berbice police identified him as John Kennedy better known by his alias ‘Big John’ of Lot 751, B- Field Sophia, Georgetown. Big John was reportedly nabbed around 10:00hrs by police ranks on mobile patrol.
According to police, the ranks arrested him in the vicinity of Main and Church Streets, New Amsterdam after finding a 9MM pistol on him loaded with 15 live bullets.
Berbice police commander, Shivpersaud Bacchus, confirmed his arrest but was not in a position to say when he will be handed over to detectives at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for questioning in relation to the 2021 murder of a 21-year-old mechanic at Dennis Street, Sophia.
The mechanic, Jaleel Leow was gunned down at a woman’s business place on August 3, 2021. He was reportedly one of the murder witnesses in the 2020 killing of Kevin Campbell that one of the men accused of killing him was allegedly involved in.
Kaieteur News had reported on August 4, 2021 that Leow, Campbell’s brother, Brandon Smith and the Sophia businesswoman were hanging out in front of her shop on the afternoon of August 3, 2021 when two suspects approached them on bicycles.
Murdered: Jaleel Leow
The suspects dismounted their bikes and one of them armed with a cutlass asked the businesswoman, “Is problem you want?” She had reportedly responded in the negative together with Leow and Smith before walking into her yard.
Leow on the other hand was not afraid to stand up to the alleged attackers as he retorted, “Y’all could get problems if y’all want.”
The other suspect, according tpo police, then whipped out a handgun while approaching Leow from behind and fired several rounds, two of which impacted his back. However, not satisfied with the two discharged rounds, the gunman stood over him and shot him two more times to the chest.
Investigators were told that Leow somehow managed to get up and escape but had collapsed in the back of the businesswoman’s yard and died.
The gunman then turned his attention to Smith and fired a shot at him too but the bullet only managed to graze his right arm before he had an opportunity to escape.
Leow’s killers then rode away on their bicycles, but not before turning to businesswoman and saying, “We gon kill all y’all one by one. You gon be de las’ one we kill.” Following Leow’s death, police had identified three possible suspects by their aliases, ‘Big John,’ ‘Double Clip’ and ‘Brainer’ and issued wanted bulletins for them.
Almost two years after, Leow was killed and the suspects were named; gunmen in a tinted car attempted to assassinate the businesswoman and her husband. The attempted killing of the woman took place in March this year.
The gunmen, according to reports, had stopped in front of the woman’s grocery shop at ‘B’ Field Sophia in a tinted car while she and her husband were sitting outside chatting with a friend.
Her husband recalled that three masked men armed with handguns came out of the car and walked up to his wife and began shooting before re-entering the car and escaping.
A police report had detailed that the husband received two gunshot injuries to his upper back, while his wife received gunshot injuries to her right-side face, two to her right arm and one to her left elbow.
It is unclear if police will question “Big John” about this execution attempt too.
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