Footballer succumbs following Dazzel Housing Scheme shooting

Jul 31, 2023 News

…relatives urge police to arrest suspect

Footballer Gerald Sobers, who sustained a gunshot wound to his neck in an altercation with another man on June 25, 2023, died on Saturday. His relatives are calling on the police to up their investigation and apprehend the suspect.

Gerald Sobers

Sobers, who was 25-years-old at the time of his demise, died at the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal, while recovering from the shooting.

Reports are that on the day of the incident, the suspect, who is said to be a friend of Sobers, confronted the victim, while the latter visited his aunt at Dazzel Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara. “Apparently the friend went looking for him,” the man’s relative said.

She said while Sobers was hospitalized, he related that while visiting his aunt, the assailant walked up to him and shot him at point blank range after an exchange of words. Eyewitnesses related that the suspect and Sobers had an exchange and the man told the victim that they should bury the hatchet. However, an eyewitness noted that “in the wink of an eye” he shot Sobers and ran away.

Reports are that the suspect and the victim worked at a security company and the police related that the man allegedly utilized the company’s firearm to shoot Sobers.

Sobers sustained a gunshot wound to the back of his neck and relatives noted that the man’s spinal cord was damaged as a result. “His lungs were ruptured, and he was paralyzed from his chest downwards,” his relative related.

She said Sobers regained consciousness while hospitalized but he was later hooked up to a life support machine as his condition deteriorated. The doctors related to relatives that police never visited the injured man while he was conscious and according to his family members, they have received reports that the suspect was seen on multiple occasions on the East Coast of Demerara.

Sobers sister told this publication that a police detective called the family and he related that a few days before the shooting, her brother and the suspect had an altercation at a Chinese supermarket at Paradise on the East Coast of Demerara.

“The police said my brother had a bottle during the fight,” she said. She also said that she was told that the assailant threatened her brother with a firearm during the altercation.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be performed on Sobers remains early this week.

A police source related that the matter is under investigation.

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died at the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, ousing Scheme, Sobers, who was 25-years-old at the time of his demise

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