– man says he deflected bullet to chest
A 25-year-old Stabroek Market vendor is under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital nursing a gunshot wound to his left hand after he was shot during a confrontation with police in the Stabroek Market area yesterday.

According to the police, Andre Allicock, a beverage vendor of Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara was wounded around lunchtime yesterday during a scuffle with two armed ranks on foot who attempted to arrest him after he was found with a quantity of marijuana in his possession.

When Stabroek News spoke to Allicock at the hospital yesterday, he related that he was sitting in a chair close to a Digicel outlet in front of Stabroek Market when he noticed three policemen in dark blue uniform approaching.

He confessed that at the time he was “rolling a joint”, which he concealed after the officers ordered him not to move. The man said he “did not want no police story” so he attempted to escape but fell a short distance away from the stall.

He said that after surrendering himself to the police, one of the officers approached him and attempted to shoot him in his chest. The man said he pushed the officer’s firearm, which was pointed in his direction, with his left hand and was shot in the palm of his left hand instead. He was then arrested and taken into custody at the Brickdam Police station shortly after the incident.

The bullet was still lodged in the man’s hand when he spoke to this newspaper yesterday afternoon.