One man was killed and an­oth­er in­jured af­ter they were am­bushed in a camp in Es­per­an­za Vil­lage, Cou­va, on Tues­day night.

Stephon Ram­lal, 36, of George Street, Cou­va, and his friend hid in the bush­es un­til yes­ter­day morn­ing, but Ram­lal did not sur­vive.

Po­lice said they were at a camp in a bushy area off School Street, Es­per­an­za Vil­lage, when they heard gun­shots. They ran but were shot mul­ti­ple times. They still man­aged to hide in the bush­es. Ram­lal com­plained to his friend that he was in pain.

The vic­tim told of­fi­cers that he awoke to the sun burn­ing his face and re­alised that Ram­lal was un­re­spon­sive. He used Ram­lal's cell phone to call the po­lice around 6.15 am.

When the po­lice ar­rived, they took the vic­tim to the Cou­va Health Fa­cil­i­ty where he was treat­ed for gun­shot wounds. A dis­trict med­ical of­fi­cer viewed Ram­lal's body and or­dered its re­moval to the mor­tu­ary pend­ing an au­top­sy at the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre.

Po­lice said the shoot­ing may have been gang-re­lat­ed. Of­fi­cers from the Homi­cide Bu­reau of In­ves­ti­ga­tions Re­gion 3 are in­ves­ti­gat­ing. - Sascha Wil­son