Dead are brothers Lennox Baker, 45, and Ron Baker, 35, both of Farm, East Bank Essequibo, who were shot aboard a Route 32 minibus, BHH 8685, while they were transporting commuters to Parika.

Yesterday, the Police spokesman, Inspector John Sauers, would only confirm that investigations were in progress into a shooting incident on the East Bank Essequibo, where two men were fatally shot by unknown assailants.

There are conflicting reports of the incident, which reportedly occurred at about 2:30 am, after passengers had just disembarked from the minibus on the Vergenoegen Public Road.

As the men were about to move off with the remaining passengers, their assailants, who are believed to have been trailing them, approached on foot from the northern and southern sides of the bus and opened fire.

Screams, which accompanied the exploding gunfire, awakened residents who rushed out soon afterward to discover what had happened.

Lennox Baker, the driver of the bus, was shot in the neck and lay slumped over the steering wheel, dead. His younger brother, the conductor, who was sitting on the left side of the bus, was reportedly shot in the left eye.

After the police were summoned, he was rushed to the Best Hospital for treatment. He was later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died.

In another version of the incident, reports suggest that both men might have been the victims of a drive-by shooting. It is suggested that as they were moving off, the gunmen drove alongside the bus and unloaded a barrage of bullets. The driver managed to maintain partial control of the swaying bus, which he steered to a stop off the roadway before he died.

One constant in all of the reports however remains the belief that the men were trailed by their assailants, who sped off afterward. Lennox Baker was a father of four, while Ron Baker, was a father of two children.