Shooting victim Raymond (Yankee) Rawlins was only 47-years-old when he died, but he’d encountered enough crime, violence and heartache to fill several lifetimes.Known on the streets as Original Gangster, Mr Rawlins “was looked up to by other gang members” and had “street life experience,” according to police expert Sergeant Alexander Rollin.A self-confessed former drug dealer and crack addict, he was a well-known face on Court Street where he lived and ran the C&R Discount Store with his father, Raymond Burgess Sr.He was 6ft 1ins, had a mouthful of gold teeth and a Front Line tattoo on his arm.The inking was a reference to one of the first “crews” involved in drugs and violence in Bermuda, which Sgt Rollin said Mr Rawlins was involved with.Under his Front Line tattoo were inked the words Psalm 23. The comforting words of the Psalm, stating “the Lord is my shepherd,” “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake,” and “I fear no evil,” contrast dramatically with the fashion in which he lived and died.In 1985, aged 22, Mr Rawlins was already a drug dealer when his best friend Aaron Easton was stabbed to death at the home they shared in Pembroke.He’d also gained the nicknames “Yankee” and “Yankee Boy” due to the teenage years he spent in New Jersey, although his family knew him by his middle name, Troy.Mr Rawlins described his drugs business at the Supreme Court trial in 2003 of Stanford Archibald, who was eventually convicted of killing 19-year-old Mr Easton. A prosecutor said the murder was one of the most brutal in Bermuda’s history.Mr Rawlins cried as he told the jury how he found out his friend had been murdered.The loss of Mr. Easton wasn’t the only high-profile bereavement he suffered. In December 2001, his brother, Steven Dill, known as “Peppy” or “Pepe”, died after suffering an asthma attack at the Prison Farm in Ferry Reach.Mr Rawlins was devastated and spoke angrily about the neglect he claimed led to his brother’s death.Alongside personal tragedy came many brushes with the law.In 1994, Mr Rawlins pleaded guilty to a string of charges in Magistrates’ Court, including slapping two women, violently resisting arrest and drugs possession, all committed while on probation.Other convictions collected over the years included using threatening words and behaviour towards Police.However, he’d reportedly been keeping his head down in the nine months leading up to his death on August 9 2010. That’s because on December 16 2009, he was lucky to escape with his life when a man tried to gun him down in broad daylight outside his Court Street store.Mr Rawlins was sitting in his van and about to head to Magistrates’ Court, where he was on trial accused of possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply, when the gunman opened fire.The bullets narrowly missed Mr Rawlins. He arrived at court late and uninjured after the attempt on his life, but was clearly shaken and had tears in his eyes.His trial was adjourned to give him time to recover. When it eventually resumed 24 hours later, Mr Rawlins was guarded by armed police.Prosecutor Cindy Clarke suggested he ought to be remanded into custody for his own safety until the verdict in the case.However, defence lawyer Charles Richardson successfully argued he should be left to look after himself, explaining Mr Rawlins would be keeping “a low profile”.Mr Rawlins ended up being convicted of simple drug possession, having successfully claimed the 11.7 grams of cocaine found in his pocket by police was for his own personal use. He was jailed for four-and-a-half months in January 2010.In September 2010, Anthony Swan was convicted by a jury of being the man who shot at Mr Rawlins that day.The trial heard Swan had links to the 42 gang and targeted Mr Rawlins due to his links with their rival Middletown and Parkside gangs.In a police statement relating to the attempt on his life, Mr Rawlins said: “I don’t know why anyone would try to harm me or anyone I know. I guess I’m just caught in the middle of something. As far as I’m concerned I don’t have any enemies, just haters.”Swan was jailed for 12 years last December.In March 2011, Swan’s fellow 42 gang associate Alvone Maybury pleaded guilty to conspiring to shoot Mr Rawlins.Prosecutors suggested Maybury was the get-away driver in the crime. He was jailed for nine years.On May 23 2009, Mr Rawlins’ family fell victim to a gun attack when a man opened fire on his father, Raymond Burgess Sr, now 69, and brother Raymond Burgess Jr, now 32. A teenage Parkside associate, Jdun Thompson, was also hurt.Cervio Cox, a 42 gang associate and cousin of Mr Rawlins’ eventual killer David Cox, was convicted of involvement in the crime and jailed for seven years [see separate story.]David Cox’s trial heard allegations that he was a member of 42 and murdered Mr Rawlins in revenge after another 42 member, Julian Washington, was shot and injured earlier that night.Defence lawyer John Perry QC pointed out there was no evidence Mr Rawlins had anything to do with the attack on Mr Washington.“There’s no evidence in this case that someone wanted to get rid of Mr Rawlins, and by someone I mean someone from the 42 gang,” he remarked during his closing speech.Mr Rawlins mother also questioned what drove someone to murder him.Sharon Coy told The Royal Gazette six weeks after the slaying: “I don’t know why anyone would want to kill him.”She said: “My son had a beautiful personality. I know he wasn’t no angel, but he is not as bad as the media are making him out to be.”She denied he was involved in the gangland underworld and said: “He was like a Robin Hood, but he did not steal from the rich, he just gave to anyone that came to him and said ‘lend me’ or ‘give me’ and he gave until he couldn’t give any more.”In a statement shared with the jury in the David Cox trial, nursing assistant Ms Coy, 67, explained that after her son was killed, she went to the hospital to identify his body.“I was there for a long time and I just kept calling his name,” she said.Members of Mr Rawlins’ large and devastated family circle wept with relief this afternoon as they watched David Cox get convicted of his killing.