A brazen early-morning ambush has left a well-regarded maxi-taxi driver dead outside his home in Brazil Village, leaving law enforcement with no clear leads as to what prompted the deadly attack.
The victim, identified as 56-year-old Ronald Ramgoolie, was gunned down shortly after leaving his residence on Savannah Drive around 6:30 a.m. yesterday. According to initial police reports, Ramgoolie had stepped outside to inspect his 24-seater maxi-taxi, which he nicknamed “General,” when an unidentified attacker opened fire, hitting him multiple times before fleeing the scene on foot.
Neighbors and family members who heard the gunfire rushed outside immediately, discovering Ramgoolie’s body lying on the roadway just meters from his vehicle. First responders from the San Raphael Police Station were the first law enforcement officials to arrive at the crime scene, with investigators from the Region Two Homicide Bureau and the regional Crime Scene Unit arriving shortly after to process evidence and conduct interviews with witnesses.
As of press time, investigators have not been able to establish a potential motive for the killing. Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed that Ramgoolie had no documented connections to illegal activity, and no suspicious behavior linked to the driver had been reported to local police prior to the shooting.
Brenton Knights, president of the Route Two Maxi-Taxi Association, paid tribute to Ramgoolie on Tuesday, describing him as a calm, dedicated professional with a strong drive to build a better life for his family. Knights recalled that when he first met Ramgoolie roughly five years ago, the driver was operating a smaller maxi-taxi, but through hard work and ambition, he had worked his way up to owning and operating the larger 24-seater vehicle.
“Life is a precious thing and any loss of life will never be good, because it is not even our own to take,” Knights said in an interview. “So I find what happened to him was totally unacceptable regardless of what were the circumstances.” Knights added that Ramgoolie was a devoted family man who was well-liked by his peers and the community he served.
The killing brings the national murder toll to 190 as of last night, matching the exact same death toll recorded on the same date last year.