A young man was shot by police ranks yesterday morning at Kaneville, East Bank Demerara, reportedly in an exchange of gunfire, and he is currently at the Georgetown Public Hospital awaiting surgery to remove the bullet.
According to a police press release Stephen Mohamed was shot at around 9:45 yesterday morning when police approached a group of four young men following reports about their threatening behaviour. The young men, the release stated, opened fire on the ranks who returned fire hitting Mohamed in the right hip. The other men managed to escape.
The release said that an unlicensed .32 pistol and nine matching rounds were recovered by the police.
Kaneville residents told Stabroek News that Mohamed called `Cheesy’ was recently involved in another shoot-out with the police. One villager said that she had witnessed Mohamed being picked up by the police at his Kaneville home and placed in the back of a police pick-up. However he escaped at that point. Another woman recalled that she was washing clothes when she heard about seven gunshots. When she ran to the front of her yard she recalled seeing Mohamed running down the road and dashing away from the police.
Mohamed told this newspaper at the hospital that the bullet is still lodged in his hip and he is expecting surgery to have it removed. He said that he was never involved in any previous shoot-out with the police and that yesterday’s events resulted from an affair he is having with another man’s girlfriend. Mohamed said the man reportedly told the police that he [Mohamed] had robbed him and they came looking for him.Police are continuing their investigations in the matter.
