Following months of frenetic and bloody pursuit, police yesterday said they shot and killed Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins and escaped prisoner and multiple murder accused, Jermaine `Skinny’ Charles in an almost seven-hour-long operation starting at Timehri.
Another man identified as Seon Grant of Timehri Squatting area was also killed in the process. He was identified by relatives. Up to late yesterday the police had not completed any fingerprint matching for the slain men, but acting police commissioner Henry Greene noted that the men were positively identified by two prison officers.
Rondell Rawlins (left), Jermaine Charles (right)
At a press conference called hours after the dramatic events, Greene told the media at Police headquarters, Timehri that acting upon information received at about 5:45 yesterday morning two teams from the Joint Services Operation Group and the Guyana Defence Force Special Force along with members of the special forces proceeded to an area in Timehri about 500 metres east of the GDF ammunition dump when they came under fire from shooters in an identifiable house.
According to Greene in that first confrontation, GDF Corporal Cush was shot in his right hand. He said ranks returned fire having seen three men running from the house and when they descended upon the scene they found the body of a man who was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The man was identified as Grant.
Ranks then continued their search for the other men.
The two men ended up in Kuru Kururu at a place villagers call Kakabura and at about 12:45 pm, police said the team came under fire from a small unfinished concrete structure. There was an exchange of gunfire and two men, later identified as Rawlins and Charles were killed.
Greene said the men were taken to the mortuary where they were pronounced dead on arrival. A search of the structure revealed two AK 47 rifles and 215 7.62 by 39 rounds contained in seven magazines. One of the weapons have since been confirmed as one of those which went missing from army base Camp Ayanganna back in 2006.
According to a police source, who saw the bodies there was no serious injury to the faces of the two men but Charles’ arm had serious injuries.
Rawlins had a visible nick on one side of the face, the source said. Further, this newspaper was told that Rawlins sustained a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Stabroek News understands that the dead man had a goatee.
Not over
Meanwhile Greene made it clear that he was cognisant of the fact that there were still many gang members out there and said that the police’s success in capturing what he called the “point man” of the gang did not mean that the search was over.
To this end he urged that the other gang members turn themselves in and face the full force of the law and reiterated that “we are by no means giving up the search.” Flanked by army Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best, Greene told reporters that the police have been able to identify Rawlins as the gang leader over the years and noted that the more prominent leaders of the gang have already been killed from October last year to date.
Malcom Allen called Coolie Boy, Aubrey Glasgow called Dread, Noel James called Baby, Orlando Andrews called Bullet, Troy St. John called John Eye, Otis Fifee, Cecil Ramcharran and Robin are among gang members killed.
Greene also said there are about 25 gang members and persons who have supported them in one way or another and are currently in the Georgetown Prisons.
He noted that while some of the men were known to the police and may have been convicted on offences in the past, they have not been heard from over time and so were not prominent.
In the list of still-wanted men Greene listed several names including Sunny, Richard Daniels called “Chucky”, a man known as “Not Nice”, Leon Cort called “Capone”, a man known as White Boy, Ratty, James Gibson and one known only as Kenny.
However with this latest killing, especially of wanted man Rawlins, Greene said he feels that the gang has been shaken and likened the police’s success in slaying the man who has been able to evade them for some time, as the proverbial “breaking of the camel’s back”.
“We feel we have broken the camel’s back where this gang is concerned,” he asserted.
Recounting the intelligence received which he labelled as “an integrated approach,” Commodore Best said that the army responded based on the information it received. He said when that information pointed to the fact that the men were staying somewhere in Timehri, he said he figured that they would want to assemble not far from the army base.
Asked about his feeling in light of the revelation that the men’s temporary abode was mere metres away from the army’s ammo dump, Best said he was concerned but noted that he had no information so far as to whether the men had any intention of attacking the base. However he noted that it was not something that he would put past them, since the concern of criminals of that nature were to always keep their ammunition stores going.
Since June when the police reportedly had their last positive sighting of Rawlins, following information they received which pointed to Christmas Falls, the man had been able to evade capture, despite countless joint services operations, searches and road blocks in several areas in and out of the city.
Questioned in that regard, Best responded, “let me start at the end, there is no more Fineman and Skinny… indeed they managed to get past the joint services.”
“In any event these were hard men, hard fighters. In the end the joint services won, we won out and it is not over as the commissioner said because there are other criminal elements at large. The joint services continue to conduct its operation and work towards keeping the country safe … I don’t see a let up of this operation for the Joint Services,” Best asserted.
Asked about his concern that many of the weapons being recovered in the hand of criminals have been traced to the army, Best noted that there is a concern but said the ammunition found with the men was old.
He further stated that recent finds on many criminals have produced less and less ammunition but cautioned that he was not suggesting that more ammunition was still not out there and in the hands of the wrong people.
good job //////////// keep hunting down the others,,,,,,,,,,,,,
i agree, they killed a lot of innocent people. The relatives of these convicts are bawling now that they are dead……well at least now they know how the relatives of the innocent men, women and CHILDREN that was killed felt.
Good job indeed by the police but, is a good job done by the gov’t and other stakeholders to ensure a “Fat Man”, a “Magga Man” or another “Fine” man doesn’t erupt in the next three years?
Our solution to crime is not ONLY the gunning down of the bandits but the provision of the necessary supporting mechanism to ensure that they are never born or get a chance to grow.
Well now that fineman dead, Roger Khan in Jail. Guyana should be free from drugs and murder???
A fish may rot from the head down but political changes occur from the bottom up. (hence grass-roots)…
Good luck in waiting for the politicians to change the country…….
I am very proud of the joint services of Guyana, it is about time.
Gary, we proud of you.
The Coast Guard reps of the United States (Guyana Maritime Command) thank you for the excellent job that you are doing. We love you.
Congratulations for a job well done. The dedication, hard work and efforts of the ruling Government and Joint Services must truly be recognized and appreciated by the Guyanese people home and abroad.
The butchery of innocent people especially children must not be condoned in any society.
I am sure that the termination of these cowards will bring some closure to the victims and their relatives whose lives are distraught.
Victor, wat you say??? The dedication what and what of the ruling government and what? Where you from man
Good work!
“Greene said the men were taken to the mortuary where they were pronounced dead on arrival.”
Everything about this sentence seems strange! Shouldn’t the pronouncement of death be made before taking the deceased to the mortuary? Anyway ………
This was a mistake by the journalist, i saw the press conference on TV last night, they were pronounced dead at the hospitak, then taken to the mortuary!
Aw!! stop parsing poor journalism.
totally agree with u, pronounced dead before mortuary…….are we positive this is the right person???? How many guyanese are allowed to see his identity?????
Guyana is relieved but the job is not yet over.
There must be an `organisation’ which was coordinating and supporting the deadly activities of these criminals.
What about the gold, diamonds and cash which were stolen from Bartica and elsewhere?
The Security forces need to get hold of those others who have been providing the logistics to Fine Man and Skinny.
What about the other gang members named in the newspaper articles. Names such as “Chucky”, “Not Nice” and others?
I AGREE.SOMETHING FISHY ABOUT THAT SENTENCE..THEY PROBABLY DON’T KNOW WHO THE PERSON IS AS YET…SPECULATION?:)) LOL
I question the identity of the man reported in Kaieteur as Fineman. I could not help but noticing that the scar on his forehead which is present in all other images that I’ve seen of him is missing. Fineman had plastic surgery to remove scar from his forehead?
TYPICAL!
Y’all just can’t accept good news?
Ha!! You seem to be one of those who said fineman is a myth
Since you seem to know every detail of fineman, maybe you should be the one to identify him. Just a suggestion.
lol, look country man, u 2 funny
countryman i am in agreement with you….
Cdr Gary Best said he has no information so far as to whether the men had any intention of attacking the army base at Timhri but he agrees this was a likely option.
That the JS ambushed them before they could get up to attacking strength is clearly a fortuitous blessing.
An all out sustained attack on the camp at the height of Carifesta would have been beyond most of our imagination but we can use Lusignan and Bartica to focus our minds!
Hoping that the camp personnel would be busy elsewhere, Fineman and his people could have attacked; perhaps with an eye to over-running the camp entirely.
These strategies are not the plans of your average psychopath for if this was indeed the plan, then it is not inconceivable that a military coup in Guyana could have been attempted from the camp. This needs to be investigated.
Travis Kyte and Annette who say they know Fineman, claim that he was not assertive enough and was even a “frighten man”.
I have always felt that Fineman has superiors and this will also have to be investigated and the MR BIG named and shamed
As it is these circumstances have resulted in Guyanese celebrating a fairly good Carifesta and simultaneously celebrating the death of the slaughterer of Lusignan and Bartica. It does not get much better than this.
May the victims who escaped death at Lusignan and Bartica and all families and friends who for the rest of their lives will daily grieve for the atrocities committed get some solace from these developments.
FACEBOY has focused on some very important issues which we should not lose sight of even during these good tidings, namely:
1 Anonmyity for the Joint Service personnel involved in the operation.
Naming Corporal Cush was unfortunate.
2 Reward money to be shared proportionately with those JS persons involved.
3 Be aware there may be those who may ‘cry foul on behalf of these criminals’
The last word must go to Cdr Gary Best who says, although the camel’s back is broken, there can be no let up to apprehend the rest of the mob before another ‘Fineman’ turns up. We wish him all good luck in trying to make Guyana the safe place it can be.
Satish nobody likes to condone criminality and should not but the ruling party in government is also criminal. when the events surrounding the lusignan and bartica massacres, the government played politics and was casting blame to make it look political. to do things like that is in itself criminal because they intended to mislead the guyanese people for political gains. in this day and age i just cant imagine that people in guyana can believe some of the crap i read about. when you want to know the where abouts about other gang members you generally capture the leader and get information. in this case something aint right. Are you telling me with all the bullets flying around only one hit fineman. to booth look where this running man in a supposedly bushy area was hit , in the back of his head. Another thing they commissoner talk about slaying the men , isn’t that contradictory ? who takes shot men to the mortuary to have them pronounced dead ? i guess satish might do things like that . the guyana police force is notorious for concocting these strange tales and the strange things is that people believe it.
It is not a mystery who is behind and giving support to these ruthless murderers.
Kudos to the JS, bring ‘em in dead or alive.
:O The Joint Services get to claim the reward money?! Isn’t capturing criminals part of their job?
That is so true Satish. He was nothing more than a coward whilst growing up. We grew up just three houses apart. On the other hand, skinny was always in trouble ,maybe from the time he was born. Shawn grant aka Troy Grant was also another troublesome one in Agricola from an early age. Fineman was nothing more than a punk.
Congrats to the men and women in uniform who played a direct or indirect part in this operation.
job well done, please find the others and end this ruthless behavior by these criminals, then go after the street criminals with guns, let them know that our society will not tolerate this any longer.
JOB WELL DONE, AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
25% of the population this morning is sad the other 70% happy.
Vijay, what about the remaining 5% ……. undecided?
Vijay, you get the Einstein award today for both your computation wizardry and your deep and profound insight into the psyche of Guyanese folk living in Guyana
HA HA HA HA U SURE RIGHT !!!!!!!!
WELL I PRAY THAT THE 25% THAT R SAD WAKE UP AND SMELL D COCO BEANS WHAT THESE MEN DID WAS WRONG, IT IS CRIMINAL AND IT IS AGAINST THE WRITTEN WORD…
kudos to the joint services on an operation well done.
I thought you were one of the people who say that Fineman Rawlins did not exist? How come now you’re congratulating the JS for killing a ghost? Shame on you.
The joint services must be congratulated on such feat.