Police perplexed by latest killings
Stabroek News
November 14, 2002
Mystery still surrounds the shooting deaths of two men whose bodies were found in villages on the East Coast Demerara early Tuesday morning.
The police yesterday said although investigations were continuing, there were no new leads as to the motive behind the killings of Randolph Chapman at Buxton and Alwin Callender, whose body was discovered in a playfield at Melanie.
Callender’s aunt, Margaret, with whom he lived at 54 First Street, Alexander Village, told Stabroek News yesterday that the last time she saw her nephew alive was on Monday at about 6 p.m. when he left to take his younger sister home.
When he did not return home that night, the woman was not too worried, since, according to her, “he is a boy who does walk in and walk out.”
Callender’s aunt maintained that the young man was a very private person and never told anyone when he had problems. As such, Margaret Callender said she could not give a possible motive for her nephew’s death.
Residents at Melanie came upon Callender’s body in a playfield at about 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
They reported hearing what sounded like two gunshots sometime late the night before, but had not realised that someone had been killed.
Although news circulated about the discovery of the two bodies that day, Callender’s aunt only became aware of the young man’s death when her neighbours called her Tuesday night.
“The neighbours called me from all angles, ‘Margaret, Margaret. Alwin deh pon TV, Alwin dead! I start to holler...” the woman recounted.
Callender, his aunt said, was a “jack-of-all-trades” who did not have a fixed job. Just two weeks ago he celebrated his 24th birthday.
Meanwhile, the body of 35-year-old Chapman called ‘Super Cat’ was found by an army patrol some two hours before Callender’s, on Company Road, Buxton, south of the railway embankment.
Reports suggest that Chapman and a group of men went to Buxton in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and were involved in a shootout with persons unknown.
The army ranks patrolling the village reported hearing a loud explosion, followed by a series of small arms shots sometime between 3:30 a.m. and 3:44 a.m. Tuesday. When they investigated, Chapman’s body was found, clad in a blue bullet-proof vest. A .32 mm calibre round, as well as two 12-gauge cartridges and a bullet were found at the scene.
Post-mortem examinations on the bodies are expected to be done tomorrow. (Kim Lucas)
