A Brazilian dredge owner and a suspected bandit are now dead after an attempted robbery ended in a bloody shootout at a mining camp in the Marudi mining area, in South Rupununi, Region Nine on Friday evening.
The dead dredge owner has been identified as Fredson Da Conceicao, 58, also known as ‘Zezao,’ while the dead suspect, whom he shot, remained unidentified up to press time last evening. The perpetrators, all believed to be Brazilian, escaped after the melee at Da Conceicao’s camp.
When contacted by Sunday Stabroek, Regional Commander of Region Nine Keithon King confirmed the deaths and an attack on Da Conceicao’s camp that was carried out by at least four to six bandits, all of whom are Brazilians, around 6.30 pm on Friday evening at the Toucan Mountain, which is among several mountains in the Marudi mining area. As there is no telephone signal in the area, King told Sunday Stabroek that he was unsure of what had transpired.
However, he related that police were dispatched to the area to conduct investigations. He noted that it would be difficult to track down the bandits who escaped because of the location but added that lawmen will be monitoring the various unconventional borders since they escaped bandits might attempt to cross over to Brazil.
Meanwhile, Sunday Stabroek was told by persons who did not wished to be named that Da Conceicao and his employees were resting when gunshots suddenly erupted in their mining camp, scattering the workers who ran for cover in the nearby forest and leaving Da Conceicao.
“They were firing wild, wild,” a witness recalled, before adding that the six armed bandits had no particular target at that time. “The workers were all there but as soon as they heard gunshots, they ran and left the boss man to battle with the robbers,” he noted.
During the shootout, Da Conceicao reportedly drew his pistol and returned fire. He wounded one of the bandits before falling to the ground as a result of the wounds he himself sustained in the exchange.
Sunday Stabroek was told that Da Conceicao was shot at least three times about his body although the fatal shot is believed to have been a wound to his chest.
In addition, Da Conceicao managed to shoot and kill one of the persons who attacked his camp. According to the witness, Da Conceicao was laying on the ground near his camp when the now dead bandit attempted to retrieve something off of his body. However, at that time Da Conceicao was not yet dead and he shot the approaching bandit straight to his head, instantly killing him.
Da Conceicao subsequently succumbed to his wounds, while the other bandits escaped with an undisclosed amount of gold in the direction of Parabara, a nearby village in the forest.
A person who visited the scene after the shootout told Sunday Stabroek that a bandit who was wounded in the shootout was being tracked as it is believed he was separated from his counterparts as he appeared to be heading in a different direction. He noted that the trackers are following a bloody trail left by the bandit and have since found a shotgun, a mask and gloves discarded on the bloody trail.
It was also noted that multiple bullet shells were found around the mining camp and that there were bullet holes in a nearby vehicle and ATV and also on the wooden walls at the camp.
Police from Aishalton arrived on the scene around 12.30 yesterday morning.
Two pistols, which belonged to Da Conceicao and the dead bandit, were recovered at the scene. A mask and a GPS navigation device belonging to the dead bandit were also recovered.
Da Conceicao is said to have been a naturalized Guyanese.
