A transgender sex worker was in the wee hours of Thursday gunned down in the vicinity of South Road and King Street, Georgetown.
Dead is 28-year-old Shawn Simon also called “Coil Bottle” formerly of New Amsterdam Berbice, who resided at Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
Based on reports received, Simon was in the company of several colleagues at about 02:00h when a silver-colored heavily tinted Premio motorcar drove by and several loud explosions were heard coming from the vehicle.
The victim reportedly ran a short distance and collapsed as the vehicle sped from the scene. He was found lying face down in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound under his right arm.
Shawn Simon called Coil Bottle
Speaking with Guyana Times on Thursday, Orin Fraser who was an eyewitness to the shooting and a close friend of the deceased, recalled the incident saying, “Early this morning [Thursday], I went with a man and I was on my way back to King and South Road and I see my friend Shawn was talking to someone in a silver fielder wagon car and before I meet King Street and South Road a car pulled up, at the big tree and a man come out and she and the man went inside the yard doing a business,” Fraser recalled.
Fraser stated that about 30 minutes later, Simon returned and it was then, that he observed the tinted car.
“When the business had finished, me, she and our next sister Pretty was talking and making laugh and the same car had come around back and pull over, I was the first one to go to this car. I make three attempts to go to this car. Then Coil Bottle said y’all don’t go, that man came to me. And the man drove up with a speed.”
Despite them warning Simon not to approach the vehicle, Simon did not pay heed.
“This was my last words, I said girl don’t go, I told Coil Bottle don’t go and she went in front of the car. By time this woman put up her foot to go in the car, Coil Bottle was in front of me and if you hear gunshots start to shoot out,” Fraser weepingly stated.
Fraser disclosed that because of the darkness inside the car, they could not identify the shooter.
“Everything in the car was dark, the only thing I see is something like sparks coming up from the front right by the driving side no other window had went down from the car and I held my ears and start run over the road,” Fraser who broke down in tears in front of reporters stated.
The police subsequently stated that they were reviewing the CCTV footage from cameras in the area. Meanwhile, several nine 9mm spend shells were found at the scene. Investigations are ongoing.
On October 8 of 2023, the now deceased, Shawn Simon had visited a friend, who works at a hotel in New Amsterdam, and while there, three men and two women – all of whom he knows – had threatened him. He had later accused the men of assaulting and threatening him.
At the time he had claimed that he had went to the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam, and an officer took a statement from him and asked that he return the following day. He had said that even though his face was partly swollen and he was bleeding, the officer did not give him a form to obtain a Police medical report from a doctor.
Simon had claimed that he was fearful for his life.
The motive of Thursday morning’s deadly shooting is unknown as Police continue their investigation. (G1)
