Seven murdered, killer ends life
By Courtney Jones and Miranda La Rose
A 97-year-old grandmother was among a family of seven killed in a hail of bullets in a shocking and brutal murder, suicide and arson incident which occurred in the wee hours of yesterday morning at Buxton Village, East Coast Demerara. Raul Herod, 36, of 121 Sideline Dam Buxton, employed as an operations supervisor at Securicor security company shot his grandmother Angela Herod who had celebrated her ninety-seventh birthday last Saturday; his mother, Shirley Cole-Herod, 60; aunt Patricia Harris 58; two of his children and a niece and nephew, before setting fire to the two-storey cottage where they all lived. The children were identified as Jonelle Herod aged 11, Erwin Herod, 15, seven-year-old Rodel Herod, and Adele Nandy Herod aged 14 years. Rodel, Adele and ten-year-old Jermaine, who was shot in his jaw, and escaped by running out of the yard, were Herod's children from a previous marriage. Jermaine was the only person who was at home at the time to survive the tragedy. The neighbours to whom he ran told this newspaper that Jermaine told them that his father had shot him and was shooting everybody in the home. They hid him under the bed. He was subsequently taken to the Georgetown Hospital.
The lone survivor of yesterday's brutal murders\suicide, Jermaine Herod in the Children's Ward of the Georgetown Hospital. The nine-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the jaw after being shot at by his father Raul Herod. (See story on page .)(Photograph by Aubrey Crawford) Police had cordoned off the area of the totally destroyed cottage as hundreds of shocked villagers milled around, when Stabroek News arrived at the scene at about 6:00 am yesterday. A relative of Herod, a former policeman, told this newspaper, that the murderer was among a group of relatives and friends talking on the road in front of his house up to about 11:15 pm on Tuesday. According to the relative, Herod looked quite calm and there was absolutely no indication from his demeanour of the horrible and tragic events that were to follow. One neighbour said that soon after Herod left to go into his house, his wife Denise left and headed in the direction of the Buxton Public Road.
Murdered: Shirley Cole-Herod, mother of the murderer, who died at her son's hand. Shortly afterwards a fusillade of shots, from what a police statement yesterday said was a .32 Taurus automatic pistol, rang out as Herod systematically shot every occupant of the house before setting the ancient wooden structure on fire. Police investigating the murder/suicide/arson, while briefing Prime Minister Sam Hinds, Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj and Region Four Chairman Allan Munroe at the scene yesterday, said that it was believed that Raul Herod saturated the place with gasolene then fired a shot at a 20-pound gas cylinder which exploded. Residents in the area told of being awakened from their beds by screaming and the sound of no less than 18 shots blasting the quietude of the early morning. The police statement said the .32 pistol and two empty magazines were recovered at the scene of the tragedy by police. Sources told this newspaper that the Taurus pistol carries a nine-round ammunition clip. Which would have meant that Herod had two ammunition clips and after firing the first clip, deliberately reloaded and continued what Buxton residents are calling a "deliberate and planned execution."
Murdered: Eleven-year-old Janelle Herod, a former student of Buxton primary who was awaiting the results of the Secondary Schools Entrance Examinations (SSEE). She wrote the SSEE in April.
One resident said that after the shots a huge flame shot up from the house and Herod went back onto the road, where he told persons who had already gathered there that he "had done it". "When he came out back he was quite calm and told us that he had finally done it. I have now ended it were the words I recall he said," the resident, who declined to give his name, said.
Murdered: Fourteen-year-old Erwin Herod, a former student of Friendship Community High, who did not escape his uncle's wrath. According to persons on the scene, Herod went back into the house which was fast being engulfed by the flames and then they heard a single shot. A number of eyewitnesses said policemen and fire officials were seen removing handcuffs from bed heads leading to speculation that Herod might have handcuffed at least two of his sleeping victims to their beds before shooting them. Proprietor of Lyken's Funeral Home, Joe Lyken, told Stabroek News that most of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition but that he had recognised the bodies of the grandmother and Raul Herod from the description of their physical appearances. The police statement said all the bodies with the exception of Erwin's were found in the charred remains of the house. Erwin's body was found in the yard.
Seventeen-year-old Roger Herod who slept at a relative's home on Tuesday night and escaped being a victim of yesterday morning's tragedy. (Photograph by Aubrey Crawford) Sean Herod, Raul's younger brother told this newspaper that the family had an ongoing feud over the house and land and Raul was constantly quarrelling with his grandmother and mother over the property. Avril Herod, 37, older sister of Raul and mother of Erwin and Jonelle had to be restrained by female relatives when Lyken Funeral Home employees brought out the body of her brother to the hearse. The woman, who is also employed at Securicor as a guard and is also an occupant of the house, said she escaped the fate of her grandmother, mother, aunt, her two children and niece and nephew because she was on duty Tuesday night. She told Stabroek News that after an argument in the house between Herod and his grandmother over the payment of a light bill last week, she had threatened to take legal action to get him out of the house. Avril said that the dead man routinely abused the grandmother and other relatives in the house. "On Monday night after an argument he had with us he threatened to kill everybody in the house and said he had a mind to finish everything then," Avril said. According to her, a number of complaints to the Vigilance Police Station about her brother's behaviour elicited no response from police stationed there. Close family members said they always knew that Raul was capable of such an act. However, other villagers described him as a quiet person who always had a smile when greeting people in the village. Officials of Securicor declined to talk to Stabroek News about the incident although the company provided a photograph of Herod from its files. Raul's workmates expressed shock, describing him as a "good person to work with and very friendly." Meanwhile, Toronto-based Guyanese Charles McRae who visited the site of the tragedy with another son of the village Odinga Lumumba promised that on his return to Canada he would mobilise other Guyanese and begin a fund for the rebuilding of the house for the surviving family members. McRae said he also intended to begin the process by leaving some money with Lumumba, who is adviser on empowerment to the Minister of Labour.
"My head hurting." These three simple words were used by nine-year-old Jermaine Herod, to sum up how he felt after surviving a gunshot wound to the jaw at the hand of his father, 36-year-old Raul Herod, in yesterday's massacre at Buxton. The Securicor operations supervisor also fired the shots that killed his grandmother, Angela Herod; mother, Shirley Cole; aunt, Patricia Harris; niece, Jonelle Herod; nephew, Orin Herod; daughter, Adele Herod and son, Rodel Herod. He then set fire to the family home, before taking his own life, leaving behind a shattered family and one shaken little boy who cannot speak about what happened. His silence, however, should not be confused with ignorance. Jermaine is all too aware that the number of people he can call family has been reduced by eight. When Stabroek News visited Jermaine yesterday in the Children's Ward at the Georgetown Hospital and enquired whether others had visited him before, the nine-year-old gave a heartrending response: "Nobody come... because everybody dead, only people outside left." Tears rolled down his face, mingling with the blood that drips out of his mouth every time he talks. Jermaine's mother - Raul Herod's first wife - had died some years before. Jermaine remembers, indeed he still feels, the pain of the gunshot wound and when asked who shot him he stutters out a one syllable word, "Da." He recalls that his aunt was shot after him and that he got to the hospital only because neighbours called the police who brought him to Georgetown. He remembers coming to the hospital and confides that the doctors have told him that he will be all right. Beyond that, the nine-year-old cannot speak. He doesn't know what will happen to him with the death of his father and he also doesn't know why the man supposed to care for him tried to end his life. All he knows is that in a few cursed minutes, most of his family was ripped away from him. It would not be human to walk away from Jermaine's bedside without looking back. When one does, the sight is memorable--a brave little boy for whom life will never be the same, sitting on a bed surrounded by other injured children in the ward. (Kester Morris)
Minister of Home Affairs, Ronald Gajraj, yesterday made the first of what is hoped will be several donations to the surviving relatives of those slaughtered in yesterday's Buxton massacre when he presented a quantity of foodstuff on behalf of his ministry. The items donated--ten boxes of biscuits, ten lbs coffee, 500 coffee cups, ten lbs butter, one dozen tins of liquid milk and 30 lbs of sugar are for the relatives' immmediate needs, Gajraj said, noting that the items would be needed for the 'wake'. (Coffee and biscuits are served at the traditional Guyanese 'wake' which is carried on every night until the funeral.) The official presentation took place in the minister's office on Brickdam and saw Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Senior Superintendent Ivelaw Whittaker, receive the items on behalf of the families. It was explained to those present that the Police Force as one of the principal agencies under the Ministry of Home Affairs, would be tasked with distributing foodstuff to the survivors. Yesterday's donation came after Minister Gajraj and Prime Minister Sam Hinds had paid an early morning visit to the scene of yesterday's murders\suicide. According to Gajraj, during the visit the two had spoken to those affected including a sister of the murderer and the need for help given the recent events had been impressed upon them. The minister said that he had collaborated with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security on the donation. Gajraj has also promised further assistance in the near future. Yesterday's handing over ceremony was attended by, among others, Rajendra Bissessar, personal assistant to Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Indra Chandarpal, who indicated that his ministry was examining how it could assist the family.
By Desiree Jodah Could the Buxton massacre yesterday have been averted? Are such incidents on the increase? Danuta Radzik, a counsellor with the Help and Shelter organisation, says that if members of the family had been abused by Raul Herod, the murderer, or had recognised that he had violent tendencies, assistance could have been sought from the organisation. Relatives of Herod, the man who killed his mother, grandmother, aunt, two of his children and a niece and a nephew, said reports had been made at the police station about threats to the family. Herod made good on those threats, ending it all in a murder/suicide rampage that has left the East Coast Demerara village in a state of shock. Herod reportedly had a domestic dispute with his mother and grandmother. According to Radzik, the organisation does not give advice, but counsellors there work along with parties towards finding a solution. Radzik explained that there was the issue of client confidentiality which would not have allowed the counsellor to give certain information. However, she said, if after sessions with a person, it was recognised that he/she had an uncontrollable violent tendency, help would have been sought from the police. Asked whether any work was being done in rural areas to make people aware that help could be obtained through counselling, Radzik said a workshop was held recently in Linden to train persons to offer counselling to those in need. According to her, there was not enough resources available to conduct such exercises in other areas, but pointed out that Help and Shelter's advertisements, especially on radio, were reaching persons in the various regions. If Herod's mother had thought he was violent and a threat to her and other family members, a Protection Order could have been sought from the court, especially if he had a history of physical and psychological abuse. Radzik said that the Domestic Violence Act allows for an occupancy or a tenancy order to remove the abuser from the home. The latter provides for the removal of the abuser from the home even if the person pays the rent. It was agreed that there seemed to be an increase in such incidents. In 1994, in the adjoining village, Friendship, seven people had been massacred by a rampaging drug addict. In 1994, 34-year-old Imtiaz Rahaman shot his two children, his 32-year-old wife and then himself after a long-standing domestic dispute. Domestic trouble was also given as the reason why in October 1997, Ramodar Sudama of Blankenburg, West Coast Demerara shot four people, killing one, the 19-year-old brother of his wife. He reportedly went berserk when his wife left him and returned to her mother's home. Sudama was an abuser. In 1997, Calvin Knights murdered his wife Michelle, before killing himself. Domestic conflict was again blamed for this tragedy. In February 1998, Number 65 Village, Corentyne was rocked by the deaths of three children reportedly at the hands of their father, who was found hanging in the house. Again domestic conflict was blamed for the deaths of the children aged nine, eight and three years old. The two older children were reportedly strangled, while the youngest was stabbed.
By Kester Morris Yesterday's tragic events at Buxton could not fail to evoke memories of another massacre that traumatised the Buxton/Friendship community-- that of the infamous 'Baby Arthur' who went on a killing spree on December 9, 1994. His killing spree was brought to an end by police gunfire but not before 'Baby Arthur', born Hubert Headley, had taken the lives of his 59-year-old mother Hyacinth Arthur, Dennis Joseph, called 'Bunny', Maude Hutton, teenager--Shawn Sullivan, Melissa Valentine, two-year-old Semple Peters and a hapless dog who crossed his path. The inevitable comparisons are easily made--the obvious similarity in location, and the fact that Headley, like yesterday's killer Raul Herod, did not live to face the courts. Observers cannot help but notice that both mass murderers took the lives of family members and both were said to have been experienced in security and military matters with Headley being a former member of the Guyana National Service and Herod a ranking member of the Securicor company. In both incidents, there were survivors. In 1994, the braids of one little girl saved her life when Arthur attempted to decapitate her and an 11-month-old baby boy unwittingly saved his siblings by closing a door in Arthur's face. Yesterday a child, son to Herod survived a shot by his father and is currently nursing injuries at the Georgetown Hospital. However, it is here that parallels end. In 1994, Headley had wielded a cutlass to carry out his murders. Herod's weapon of choice was a .32 Taurus pistol supplemented by fire. Headley's life was taken on a side dam in the area. Yesterday, police recovered the body of Herod from the burnt residence, alongside other victims. Headley had reigned terror along a 400-yard stretch in the area, entering homes at will and slaughtering his hapless victims. Yesterday's killings were confined to one home. According to information that came to light shortly after Headley's death, the 31-year-old was a crack cocaine addict who had had a history of threatening villagers including his own mother. Residents of the area had lamented the fact that in Buxton drugs were as easily purchased as cigarettes, a cry that had not abated when a Stabroek News reporter visited the area a year later. On that occasion, the reporter had the dubious honour of witnessing a drug buy in broad daylight and was also informed that many of the drug dealers who had supplied the drugs blamed for Headley's rampage were still operating after briefly going underground immediately following the massacre. Homicidal tendencies aside, residents of Friendship, had said that Headley had attempted to rape several women in the area before the massacre. As the police investigations continue, more will doubtless be known about the events that sparked yesterday's bloodbath but ever since December 1994, many Buxton\Friendship residents have been all too familiar with the story of 'Baby Arthur'.
Buxton mass murder - gunman kills mother, children, four others 
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