Considered to be one of the biggest drug dealers in the Eastern Caribbean, 51-year old Vincentian national Dexter Chance who was running a car rental operation in Woburn was gunned down on Monday afternoon in what appears to be a professional hit.
According to underworld sources, the killing could be linked to the recent executions of five persons in St Vincent who were known to be involved in the illegal drug trade.
Chance had moved quietly into Grenada and got married to a woman from Woburn and started a car rental business similar to what he was doing in St Vincent & The Grenadines allegedly as a cover for his illegal business.
A resident in Woburn spoke of seeing two masked men running down the streets dressed in all black with guns in their hands at the time of the execution.
He said the men seemed to have come out of a nearby house and that one of them in running down the road left a slipper on the ground near a tractor.
Within minutes of the deadly shooting, heavily armed police officers including members of the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) swooped into the area and cordoned off roads leading into and out of Woburn.
The bullet riddled body of Chance, went viral on Social Media platforms.
It appeared that the Vincentian national had just pulled up outside his business place when the gunmen attacked, giving him no chance to get out of the vehicle.
Less than a month ago, the drug infested Woburn community attracted national attention in another deadly shooting incident at Egmont on Carnival Monday.
Two professional killers from neighbouring Trinidad allegedly slipped into Woburn and shot dead 30-year old Delvon Thomas who CCTV footage showed were interacting with one of the armed masked men at the luxury home of Linton Wharwood who was also shot and injured in the incident.
When police went through the cellphone of Thomas, they picked up information that he had been in possession of 5 kilos of cocaine.
There are unconfirmed reports that Charles had struck a deal to get rid of the illegal drugs earlier in the day when he was killed.
22-year old Woburn resident Yohance Charles was charged by police for Abetment of Capital Murder and Abetment to Attempt to Commit Capital Murder, Possession of illegal drugs and Possession of Ammunition in connection with the Egmont shooting.
He is said to have co-operated fully with law enforcement officials and provided them with information about the Trini gunmen, the house they briefly occupied in Woburn, as well as the role he played in getting them into and out of Egmont to carry out the deadly shooting.
The death of Chance would have ended the life of an alleged notorious drug dealer who was cleared in July 2022 of charges in connection with an EC$4 million drug bust in Grenada.
Chance who is originally from Chateaubelair in St Vincent, was charged along with Grenadian Bernard Spann, and Jamaicans Ian Whiteand Alrick Reynolds in 2019 in connection with the seizure of 40 kilos of cocaine at Dr. Grooms beach at Point Salines in the south of the island.
Police objected to bail being granted to the Vincentian on the grounds that they believed the arrest had helped to crack open one of the biggest drug rings in the Caribbean.
He was eventually freed of the charge on a technicality but remained to live in Grenada.
In 2011, Chance, along with fellow Vincentians Gareth McDowall and Carlos Sutherland, were extradited to Tortola to stand trial along with Virgin Islanders Dale Nibbs, Khoy Penn and Asif Glasgow in connection with a 2008 drug bust.
The men were charged in connection with 61 kilos of cocaine that the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force found onboard a chartered catamaran.
On July 3, 2012, Chance and the other Vincentians were sentenced to six years in prison for importing drugs into the Virgin Islands.
However, five years later, the Vincentian men were freed by the Court of Appeal that quashed the high court convictions for drug importation, on the ground that the sitting judge erred in law in relying on a certificate of analysis not bearing the name of the defendants.
“I am very happy to be free to get back home to St Vincent and the Grenadines to be with my friends and family,” Chance told Virgin Islands News Online after being freed.
Speculation is rife that his killing could result in more violence especially in St Vincent as those associated with him in the illegal drug trade saw him as “their leader” and will seek to retaliate against those responsible for ordering the execution.