MMC guard held after ‘thief’ shot dead

Police detained a MMC security guard following the fatal shooting of an unidentified man early yesterday morning on Eping Avenue.

The incident, police said in a press statement, occurred at about 3.30 am at the Bel Air Park, Georgetown location. The body was up to press time last night at the Georgetown Public Hospital morgue awaiting identification.

Investigations, police further reported, revealed that two security guards attached to Roraima Airways saw two men removing the batteries from a motor canter parked on the roadway outside the business place.

The guards challenged the men and managed to apprehend one of them; the man who was later fatally shot. The other perpetrator managed to escape on a bicycle.

A MMC Security Service pick-up, with three guards, subsequently arrived at the scene and the unidentified suspect was handed over to them. The man, according to police, was placed in the tray of the vehicle along with one of the security guards who was armed with a shotgun.

It is alleged, police said, that the unidentified suspect attacked the security guard in an attempt to escape. The suspect was reportedly shot during the confrontation. He was taken to GPH where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The security guard has been arrested and is in police custody assisting with the investigations. This newspaper understands that the suspect sustained a single gunshot wound to the lower back.

Carl Morgan, a MMC executive, said the deceased was taken to the hospital at about 5am by the guards. When questioned further about the incident he declined to comment. Morgan told Stabroek News that police were currently investigating the matter and there wasn’t much he is at liberty to disclose.

Meanwhile, Roraima Airways Chief Executive Officer Captain Gerry Gouveia said he learnt about the incident hours after it had occurred. Gouveia, reiterating some of what the police reported, said he’d been informed that the guards had caught a man who was reportedly trying to steal.
When Stabroek News visited the location around 2 pm yesterday the canter was still parked on Eping Avenue.

An employee, who refused to identify himself, told this newspaper that police visited the scene at about 7 yesterday morning. Police, the man said, examined the canter and left.

He further said that his co-worker, who would’ve been on duty at the time of the incident, did not report seeing anything yesterday morning.
Roraima Airways is sandwiched by two empty lots and several other businesses are located in its immediate vicinity.

The deceased, police said in a later statement, appears to be in his 20s, is brown complexioned, about 5’7” and was wearing a pair of black briefs and navy blue three-quarter pants. Police are asking that anyone with information that may lead to the identification of the man to contact the nearest police station or call 225-6411, 225-2227, 225-6941, 227-1149, 226-7065 or 911.