Police tonight said that a man was shot dead in Cuyuni/Mazaruni today after he and two others attacked law enforcers who were carrying ballot boxes to two interior areas.
The police said that investigations are being conducted into the fatal shooting of an unknown man of mixed race which occurred at Maripa Dukwari Landing, Cuyuni River.
It said that initial information obtained from two police ranks at the scene was that they were on duty escorting two ballot boxes to Maripa Dukwari and Kurutuku. While at the Maripa Dukwari Landing, the ranks were attacked by three men who were armed and who attempted to take away the police firearms during which one of them was fatally shot, the release said.
Police said that the attacker was armed with two handguns which have been recovered along with a quantity of ammunition. The other two men fled the scene.
All the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting are not yet very clear, police said, but the initial report suggests that the man who was fatally shot is wanted for a series of armed robberies in the interior and may have been about to commit another robbery at the Landing when he confronted the police.
Police from the Eteringbang Police Station and 70kms Buckhall have left to visit the scene.
The ballot boxes and ballot materials are all intact, the police said.
