Police yesterday cornered and shot dead a gunman on Brickdam, minutes after he had robbed a city businessman with the aid of an accomplice.
It appears that the two had no clear plan after executing the robbery in John Street. They were apparently contemplating their next move when a police mobile patrol got word of the brazen midday attack and moved in quickly.
Since they were on a bicycle, the two did not get far. Police caught up with them at the corner of Brickdam and Chalmers Place, Stabroek where one of them was shot dead.
Up to press time last night, the dead gunman was unidentified. However, a few persons who saw him at the Georgetown Public Hospital called him `Black boy’. He was shot twice; once to the lower back and once in his right leg, and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Police said the man was shot dead during an armed confrontation after he opened fire on the patrol that was in hot pursuit. However, persons who said they were eyewitnesses rejected this version.
In a press release issued last evening, police said an unlicensed 9 mm Beretta pistol along with three live rounds and a spent shell were recovered. They said the two men had entered the Royal Refrigeration building at John Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, and held the owner George Ramsarran at gunpoint. The men tied him up with duct tape and took away some $95,000, a wristwatch and a gold band.
Police patrols responded quickly to the report of the robbery and tracked the duo down within minutes, based on the information that they were on a bicycle heading east along Brickdam. According to the police, the ranks of one of the patrols spotted the suspects and on seeing the police approaching, one of the two men pulled out a firearm and discharged a round at the police who returned fire hitting him.
The other suspect, who, eyewitnesses said, surrendered after realizing there was no way out, is in custody. Police said he has been identified by the robbery victim as one of the two men who had robbed him of $94,600 along with a wristwatch. The cash and the watch were recovered.
Persons at the scene bemoaned the shooting yesterday, calling it another example of excessive use of force by the police. Though the gunman was armed, they said, he did not engage the police. When cornered, the persons said, he was shot first in the leg and then in the lower back.
“Why shoot and kill a man when he is already down?” a man who is said to have seen the whole incident asked. This sentiment was echoed by others at the scene.
Blood was visible in the grass where the man had been shot yesterday, and a few feet away sunshades and a handkerchief, which were reportedly dropped by the other suspect, lay in the grass.
Reports are that the men had nowhere to run when they reached Brickdam, because police were approaching from every direction. The coordinated police response had them trapped at the junction of Chalmers Place.
Stabroek News spoke with a person who said he was an eyewitness, who was among several who challenged the police’s version of what happened. He said that just after 1 pm two men were spotted dashing down Chalmers Place with a police vehicle in hot pursuit. One of the men, later identified as the dead man’s accomplice, was steaming ahead and he made a left turn into Brickdam while the now dead man kept running north along Chalmers Place.
According to the eyewitness, the man who was shot had no time to pull a gun and open fire at the police because he was busy running, and trying to figure out where to go.
“He ain’t had a clue what to do and where to go because the police was on him heavy and I saw when he was shot in the leg. That bullet tear away that foot and left him there on the ground hollering,” the eyewitness recounted.
He was then shot again and put into a vehicle along with the other suspect who had surrendered at that time and taken away.
Later, when the police returned to the scene to scour the area for spent shells, a few persons chided one officer in particular who they said fired the fatal shot. The officer ignored the verbal assault and went about his business.
