Woman injured in Ketley St shooting dies
Husband tried desperately to pull her to safety
Stabroek News
January 27, 2003
For about fifteen minutes, John Vaughn, shielded his wounded wife and attempted to drag her from further danger amid the hail of gunshots fired by bandits during the bloody Charlestown robbery last Wednesday night.
In the end, the man's wife, Sharon Reece also called `Sherry', 30, of 37, Ketley Street, Charlestown, succumbed to a bullet wound she received during the robbery.
She died in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation early Saturday morning. She never regained full consciousness from the bullet wound she received to the right side of her abdomen.
A grieving Vaughn yesterday said that his wife was following him out on his way to work when she was shot. He said they were standing at the head of the alleyway that leads to their home when they heard gunshots. Without hesitation the two turned around and headed back to their home, with Vaughn leading the way.
"I then hear she call out to me saying she get shoot and when I turn around I see she lying on the ground," the man said.
He went to his wife's assistance and then saw the wound which prevented her from getting up.
The man said as the bullets continued to be fired he attempted to drag his wife into the safety of their yard but there was no one to come to their assistance.
Scared, the man said he decided to remain still in the alleyway as he attempted to shield his wife from further danger.
According to him as the bandits passed the alleyway they fired shots at the transformer which is located not far from where they were.
After the gunshots subsided persons assisted the man in taking his wife to the hospital where she underwent emergency surgery.
Vaughn said on Thursday his wife was unconsciousness but on Friday she showed signs of regaining consciousness.
However, when he arrived at the hospital at around 6:30 am on Saturday morning he found his wife dead on the bed.
The woman has left four children behind, Simeon, 11, Sheldon, nine, Stefan, five and Queenie three-years-old.
As her father spoke, the three-year-old, seemingly oblivious to her mother's demise, crawled up on her father's feet and asked to go to the gate to play, her request was denied.
Her elder bother wept uncontrollably for his mother while the other two boys were seen walking around restlessly with sad expressions on their faces.
"Deh kill me wife, I don't why deh had to kill me wife, she ent do them nothing, she was just innocent," the man said.
He wondered if the government will give him any kind of assistance since he was left with four children to take care of.
"I am just a poor working man, I am a honest man, now deh gan and tek me wife and lef she children without a mother."
Even as he spoke, singing of hymns could be heard at the nearby home of Leonard `Roy' Parjohn as relatives and friends turned up to pay their last respects to the slain man. The father of four was later cremated at Good Hope on the East Coast of Demerara.
Parjohn was gunned down by the bandits in his beer garden during the same attack in which Reece was injured. The bandits also robbed another beer garden next door to Parjohn's and shot and killed another man, Carlton Norton. Seven other persons were injured by the bandits. (Samantha Alleyne)
