Two residents of Layou, a town in St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Central Leeward region, were shot and killed in an afternoon attack in the Kingstown neighborhood of Stony Ground on Friday, April 10, 2026. Among the deceased was 29-year-old Enrique John, widely known by the alias Shoubu, who had walked free from a court hearing just three days prior despite violating his bail conditions.
John’s criminal history stretches back nearly a decade, with multiple high-profile charges making local headlines over the years. In 2017, he was arrested alongside two other Layou men on rape charges involving a minor between the ages of 13 and 15; as of press time, iWitness News has not obtained information on the final outcome or current status of that case.
Most recently, John was granted bail in February 2026 on an attempted murder charge stemming from a November 2, 2025 shootout in Layou. That incident left both John and the alleged target, 27-year-old Tilon Patterson, wounded by gunfire from unknown attackers, according to initial police source reports. John’s bail carried strict conditions: he was required to check in at the Layou Police Station three days a week, avoid all contact with Patterson, and adhere to a nightly curfew from 8:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. set at EC$50,000 bail with one required surety.
Last Sunday, just days before his fatal shooting, John violated that curfew by attending a public entertainment event after the 8:30 p.m. curfew deadline. He was summoned to the Serious Offences Court on Tuesday, where prosecutors formally moved to revoke his bail and remand him into custody. However, a witness testified that the delay that left John at the event past curfew was caused by local police stopping the witness en route to pick him up. Citing this explanation, the court ruled to release John on his original bail conditions — a decision that came only 72 hours before he was killed.
John was also one of six defendants awaiting trial on multiple charges linked to a July 17, 2024 armed robbery of the GECCU credit union branch in South Rivers. His co-defendants in that case include 25-year-old unemployed Lemar Isaacs (alias Chak) of McKies Hill, 30-year-old painter Esroy Jeffers (alias Pirate) of Layou, Sharome Dopwell of Paul’s Avenue, 35-year-old bartender Erasto DaSilva of Canouan, and 28-year-old unemployed Rakiesha Joseph (alias Bim Bim) of Layou.
The second victim killed in Friday’s attack has been identified as 22-year-old Raheem Guy, who local sources confirm was a close associate of John.
The double killing has stoked widespread community fear that a wave of violent gang-related unrest that shook Layou beginning in 2023 is continuing unabated. Between 2023, the small town recorded four homicides in just six weeks, along with multiple non-fatal shootings — a sharp break from the five-year period that ended with zero homicides in Layou before the outbreak of violence.