Christoph Duerr and Le-Veck Roberts have been unanimously found guilty of the double murder of Haile Outerbridge and Ricco Furbert inside Belvin’s Variety.

Duerr, 26, from Sandys, and Roberts, 21, from Warwick, had both denied charges of premeditated murder and using a firearm to commit an indictable offence in connection to the fatal shooting on January 23, 2013.

Roberts was also found guilty of taking a motorcycle without consent on the day of the double murder, but was found not guilty of charges connected to a second shooting involving the same firearm.

The jury began deliberating just before noon and returned to the Supreme Court at about 3pm, asking to watch security camera footage of the shooting and a videotaped Police interview of Roberts, in which he was questioned about his tattoos and plans to leave the country to study abroad.

Minutes later, they returned to deliver their unanimous verdicts.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves ordered both defendants be remanded into custody until a sentencing date could be set.

After the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Nicholas Pedro expressed hope that the verdict might bring some measure of closure for the victim’s families, thanking the officers and prosecutors for their hard work.

Family and friends of the victims — including Nicole Fox, mother of Mr Furbert — embraced outside the court after the verdict.

During the trial, prosecutors had alleged that Roberts was the gunman involved in both shootings, while Duerr served as an “armourer”, storing and supplying the firearm used in the attacks.

The jury heard that on the evening of January 16, gunshots were heard in the Curving Avenue area of Pembroke.

Witnesses reported seeing two men on motorcycles leaving the area shortly after.

Less than an hour later, Zico Majors was with friends at his home in Warwick when a man wearing a black, full-face visor arrived on the property wielding a firearm.

Mr Majors said he scuffled with the gunman until two shots rang out, at which point he ran. As he did, he heard another two shots.

Both Mr Majors and his dog were injured in the incident, while the gunman fled the area with another man on a motorcycle.

He told the court that his attacker appeared to be wearing a mask underneath his helmet, but he said that he had known Roberts for years and that he was not the man who attacked him.

One week after the incident in Warwick, on the evening of January 23, a witness reported hearing people running from the Curving Avenue area. She then discovered that a motorcycle belonging to a family member had been taken.

At about the same time, Mr Outerbridge and Mr Furbert were shopping at Belvin’s Variety on the nearby Happy Valley Road.

Mr Furbert opened the door to leave, but then ran back inside, shouting: “They’re outside. They’ve got guns.”

Both he and Mr Outerbridge ran to a storeroom at the back of the shop. Security cameras showed a figure wearing a black, full-face helmet and blue clothes walk to the storeroom door with a firearm in his right hand.

Witnesses testified hearing several shots ring out and seeing the gunman walk out of the store. When the witnesses ran to the store room, they found Mr Outerbridge and Mr Furbert lying in a pile on the floor. They both died from their injuries.

Roberts was arrested by armed officers on January 25 after Police received a report that the vehicle stolen from Curving Avenue on the night of the shooting was on the property.

Tests later revealed a single particle of gunshot residue (GSR) on his hand, along with a smattering of particles associated with the discharge of a firearm.

He was later released on bail and he left the country. He was later extradited back to the Island to face the charges.

During the trial, defence lawyer Charles Richardson argued that the particles could have come from another source, such as being transferred from the arresting officers.

On January 28, officers surrounded Duerr’s home after receiving information that he had firearms stashed under his bed.

Duerr escaped, fleeing the house with the weapons, but a search of his home revealed live ammunition and photographs of several firearms.

He turned himself in the next day at the Somerset Police Station.

Months later, during a Police interview, he admitted that he had held firearms for two separate people on occasion in the year before the shooting.

Duerr said that the day after the Belvin’s shootings he received three firearms, including what he believed to be the weapon used in the double murder, but denied that he had the weapon previous to the attack.

Taking the stand in his own defence, he said that he agreed to hold on the firearms out of fear.

The court also heard that, before the beginning of the trial, he had pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing firearms and one count of possessing ammunition.

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