A trip for one last beer turned fatal for Borde Narve farmer Anderson Gopaul who was gunned down outside a bar minutes after leaving his home on Friday night.
Gopaul, 40, was shot multiple times around 10.30 pm by a gunman who walked onto the compound at Bird’s Bar and Diner, Friendship Village, St John. His brother Johnathan and a female patron, identified as Candace, were also shot. Johnathan was hit in the arm and Candace was hit in the leg. Both are in stable condition in hospital. Yesterday, the Sunday Guardian visited St John and spoke to Gopaul’s younger brother Stephen.
He said Gopaul, one of ten brothers, finished gardening about 6.30 pm on Friday. He later met one of their brothers at a bar on the other side of the community where he limed until 10 pm. Gopaul, he said, then went home, showered and went to Bird’s bar. He said Gopaul said he had $40 in his pocket and he wanted one more beer. Stephen said less than five minutes after Gopaul left home, gunshots rang out. He said he did not know why someone would want to kill his brother.
“He was a quiet person, he used to plant the garden and work hard. None of us brothers had anything with anyone in the community. We live good with everyone.” Stephen said his mother, Rose, who suffered a stroke about seven years ago, was so distraught over Gopaul’s death that despite her poor health she walked from her home to the bar to see his body.
DEAL GONE SOUR
One of Gopaul’s close friends revealed the farmer may have known what was coming. “He was saying just before he get killed that if anything happen to him, it is over the Caroni land that he sell,” said the friend, whose identity will not be revealed for safety reasons.
Gopaul, the friend said, could not read and write and when he did the deal to sell the land he was not paid the full amount. “He said anything happened it is because of the land deal, because the people was trying to deprive him of the full amount for the land.”