According to the Police, an initial report indicated that Croal-Vermeeran and four others were in motorcar PHH 3639 proceeding west along the Turkeyen Road when another motorcar drove past firing a hail of bullets at them.

Croal-Vermeeran, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, received one bullet to the forehead.

Three of the other four occupants of the car, which was owned by Croal-Vermeeran, were hospitalised while the fourth was treated and discharged.

Reports said Marcia Semple, 34, of 51 Evans Street, Charlestown was shot in the right side abdomen; Gary Major, 25, of Charles Street, Charlestown was shot close to the left eye; his brother, Gavin Major, 26, was shot around the right eye and on the right foot; while Quacy McDonald also of Charles Street, Charlestown was shot in the left side chest and wrist.

Gavin Major was treated and discharged but the other three were up to yesterday still in hospital. One of them was listed as critical, reports said.

A reliable source told this newspaper that the occupants of the car were searching for a motorcycle that was allegedly stolen from one of them at a recent show at Thirst Park, Georgetown, which ended in chaos.

A resident of Turkeyen said he was home with his mother and brother when suddenly gunshots rang out in the air.

He said he and his family immediately took cover in their home.

"We couldn't come out because we ain't teking chance with what going on right now so I couldn't get to see nothing," the resident said.

Gunshots also hit a concrete house at the side of the road.

A relative of the dead woman said family members went to the funeral parlour yesterday morning where they identified the body.

Croal-Vermeeran's husband, Jean Vermeeran, 59, the Captain of a ship owned by Boskalis International, vowed to get to the bottom of the issue and find his wife's killer/killers.

He is Belgian by birth but said he has lived in Guyana for the past 12 years.

"I know crooks, I know nice persons. I know persons who are both nice and are crooks...the person who die is my wife and she always help everybody. It's very unbelievable for her to die like this...," he said.

Vermeeran said he was working in Berbice at the time when he received the tragic message of his wife's death.

"I have been living here for 12 years and when I came down here in 1990, had a nice job, everything was quiet here in Georgetown, everything was nice...but now this place is terrible and it's no wonder everybody want to (leave) down here (Guyana)," he said.

He said his wife loved friends.

He said it would appear that the occupants of the car were all friends of his wife.