The family of 23-year-old Guyanese Andrew Nathaniel James is mourning his death after he was allegedly shot several times in Cayenne, French Guiana.
James, formerly of Victoria Village on the East Coast Demerara, was reportedly inside a rented apartment on Wednesday when gunmen opened fire in the area.
Information surrounding the shooting remains limited, and the circumstances that led to the attack have not been fully established.
According to reports from Guyana, James was in the apartment with another man when several gunmen opened fire. James was reportedly struck multiple times.
His mother, Ecua Griffith, said she last spoke with her son on Wednesday morning, only hours before he was killed.
She described him as a jovial and loving young man who had left Guyana several years ago and was working in French Guiana.
The killing has left relatives and friends in Guyana and overseas struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss.
Candlelight vigils were held in Guyana and Brooklyn, New York, as relatives awaited further information from French authorities.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
James’ death also highlights the risks faced by Guyanese who travel to French Guiana in search of employment and better economic opportunities.
French Guiana, an overseas department of France on Guyana’s eastern border, has long attracted Guyanese migrants because of its proximity and comparatively stronger economic opportunities.
The movement of people between Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana has created extensive family, commercial and cultural connections across the region.
But crime and insecurity have also affected communities in French Guiana, with violent incidents periodically raising concern among Guyanese families whose relatives live or work there.
In James’ case, authorities have yet to publicly establish a motive for the shooting or identify those responsible.
That leaves his family confronting not only grief but uncertainty.
The circumstances of his death remain under investigation by French authorities, while relatives in Guyana await further information.
However, the investigation cannot undo the loss of a young man whose life had taken him away from Victoria Village in search of a future elsewhere.
His death has instead brought the reality of violence in another country back to a Guyanese community thousands of kilometres away, where relatives and friends are now left to mourn and wait for answers.
