Investigators are making “earnest efforts” to capture two remaining suspects in the robbery and murder of rice farmer Hardat Kissoon, according to Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum.
Sources close to the investigation have indicated that the persons being sought are the gunman and a man who is believed to be the mastermind behind the attack. One person, Sherwin Trotman, has been arrested and charged with Kissoon’s murder. He is said to be the driver of the motorcycle that the gunman used to flee the scene after shooting Kissoon dead on June 1st.
Stabroek News was told that investigators know who they are looking for and have made checks at several locations but have been unsuccessful in finding the men. They said that the gunman was identified by a government-installed surveillance camera seconds after he shot Kissoon in the chest and fled with a bag containing cash, which the Mahaica resident had earlier withdrawn from a city bank.
Stabroek News was told too that the mastermind lurks outside of banks and identifies potential targets. It is believed that he was the one who pinpointed Kissoon and passed this information to the shooter, who followed Kissoon after he left the bank and subsequently sat next to him in a Route 44 mini bus. The mastermind, according to what this newspaper was told, is known by the police for being involved in such crimes.
Kissoon, according to police, was attacked in a minibus at the Turkeyen Public Road, East Coast Demerara, at around 2:35PM last month.
The gunman, posing as a passenger, had requested to get off and as he was passing Kissoon he pulled out a firearm and held the farmer at gunpoint and demanded a bag that he had in his possession. A struggle ensued over the bag, during which Kissoon was shot to his chest and the perpetrator escaped with the bag, police said.
Kissoon died at the scene. Trotman was arrested on Saturday night while at a casino located on the East Bank of Demerara.
