National footballer shot dead

by Eldonte Samuel

Zenroy Lee had taken a sabbatical from this country’s Senior National Football team, but returned to the trial squad and had been there for the past three months.

“In those three months, he has shown tremendous improvement,” said his coach, Theon Gordon, who also is director of technical matters of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF).

On Wednesday evening April 24, 2024, 31 year old Zenroy Lee was shot and killed while sitting at the roadside in Murray’s Village. Residents recalled hearing multiple shots being fired at the time. Police arrived and processed the scene, and around 8:50 p.m as the police and others were leaving gunshots rang out again, this time in the neighbouring community of Redemption Sharpes where officers were conducting routine patrol.

It was discovered that the police had shot and killed 35 year old Romano Pompey, who was suspected of being involved in the shooting of Zenroy Lee. Police officers reportedly shot at Pompey when he pointed a firearm at the officers who had received “credible intelligence regarding the whereabouts of a suspect linked to a previous violent crime,” the police said.

Murder suspect Romano Pompey was shot dead by police in Trigger Ridge.

They reportedly recovered a pistol and 13 rounds of ammunition from Pompey after he was shot.

Gordon revealed that the national team had friendly games on the horizon and interestingly enough, Lee was a likely pick for the team.

“What we generally do, we do a ranking/ rating and he was rated very highly for his position, and more than likely would have been one of the feature players in our upcoming friendly,” Gordon told SEARCHLIGHT.

He said the Federation had decided on making some changes on his positioning this time around as after the three months, Lee had displayed progress in areas that were critical to the Federation.

Gordon said he has known Lee for 10 years through football, recounting that he was first part of the Richmond Hill Football Club before being transferred to various other clubs; “but I also knew him from the national team…I knew him as a left footer, generally played on the left side of the field”.

The coach said that after hearing the news of Lee’s shooting he felt ”sad…I tired seeing the RIPs especially to the gentlemen…I know for sure the players are distraught and we actually have training today so I’m going to have a bit more interaction with them and get a feeling of what they are processing,” Gordon said on Thursday afternoon, April 25, 2024.

FROM LEFT: Theon Gordon – SVGFF’s Director of Technical Matters and senior team coach, deceased Zenroy Lee.

The coach described Lee as a humble and respectful young man who had outstanding social skills, adding that he “carried himself well…it’s quite a surprise for all of us, hearing what happened to him”.

He said he wants for there to be a way for young persons to use sports as a way to avoid gun violence and crime.

“We have a lot of work to do to address these types of situations,” Gordon commented.

He told SEARCHLIGHT that Lee was never known to be in any sort of conflict with anyone.

“He never came across as that [kind of] person; there was no mention of him being in that light…as I said, it was a shock and surprise.”

Reacting to the news that the police had shot and killed Lee’s alleged killer, Gordon said, “I’m hoping that it was the right person, but it is never a good thing when somebody dies whether or not they committed the act”.”

Lee’s family was too distraught to say anything when they were contacted.