CHARLESTOWN, Nevis - DOCTORS at the Alexandra Hospital on Nevis lost the battle in saving the life of a young man who was earlier today shot in Gingerland.
Information reaching SKNVibes state that 21-year-old Karim ‘Sleepy’ Browne, formally of McKnight but who was residing in Bath Village, Nevis, was shot in the right eye shortly after 11:00 this morning.
He was taken to the Alexandra Hospital, where he underwent emergency operation but succumbed to his injuries at approximately 1:02 p.m.
According to sources, Browne and his father, Abdue Challenger, were painting a building in the vicinity of Gingerland Secondary School when the incident occurred.
Sources claimed that while Challenger was working within the building, Browne was painting the gate when a masked man dressed in black approached and fired two shots at him.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that one of the bullets struck him in the eye, entered his head and then lodged itself in his neck.
An anonymous caller from Gingerland told SKNVibes that her daughter and many other students of Gingerland Secondary School are traumatised over the incident, and that the gates of the learning institution were ordered locked shortly after the shooting occurred in protection of the children.
Browne’s death has taken the number of homicides committed in the twin-island Federation for the year to nine; five on St. Kitts and four on Nevis.
The first homicide occurred on New Year’s Day shortly after 6:00 a.m., when 26-year-old Keithon Stanley of Cole Hill was killed execution-style within a building in Craddock Road, Charlestown, Nevis.
Just one week later (Jan. 7), 23-year-old Kimoy ‘Pudding’ Powell of Bath Village, Nevis (originally from Irishtown, St. Kitts) was shot multiple times at Crosses Alley in Charlestown. He succumbed to his injuries at the Alexandra Hospital.
On St. Kitts, 32-year-old Maxwell ‘Mad Max’ Chumney was killed while in the yard of his of West Street, Newtown home on Wednesday, January 20. He was shot twice, and one of the bullet wounds was visible on the left side of his head.
On Tuesday (Feb. 9), 31-year-old Vincentian, Wesley Trimmingham, of Brown Hill was gunned down in Ramsbury within the vicinity of LEFCO Apartments. His death was followed by 30-year-old Damian ‘Nashi’ Isaac, who was shot multiple times to the body, including one to the back of the head, in an alley in Russell Village on Friday (Feb. 12).
The sixth homicide, which has been deemed highly controversial and is being thoroughly investigated on order of the Police Force’s High Command, is that of 29-year-old Nkoma ‘Koma’ Jacobs of Lower Monkey Hill, St. Peters. He was shot in the head during an alleged shootout with the police at approximately 10:40 p.m. on Friday, February 12, 2010.
The seventh homicide is that of 17-year-old Jervin Wilson, who was killed in a drive-by shooting while outside the Lodge Community Centre shortly after mid-night on February 28. One week after, Sunday (Mar. 7), Denzil ‘Para’ Williams was gunned down in an area called Points in Upper Monkey Hill, St. Peters.
Investigations into all of these homicides are ongoing.
