A sixty-year-old punter was yesterday afternoon shot in his upper right thigh by a gunman who also robbed him of four million dollars while at the All Seasons Horse Racing and Sports Betting on Robb Street, Georgetown.
The victim is currently a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital. He has been identified as former boat captain, Terry Persaud, of Herstelling Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara.
Persaud told this newspaper that before going to the betting shop, he had visited the bank where he did a transaction. It is believed that the robbers trailed him from the bank to the All Seasons establishment where he was shot about 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon.
According to a police report, the victim was at the shop placing bets when an identifiable suspect approached him and demanded that he hand over his haversack. When he refused to do so, the suspect pulled a handgun from his waist and shot him.
“They saw the man [Persaud] with a backpack, followed him from the road and demanded the bag. When the man retaliated, he shot him in the leg,” recounted the proprietor of the business, Raymond Alli. He added that after the man was shot, the suspect ran outside where an accomplice was waiting on a black motorcycle which had no registration number, on which they made their escape.
Eyewitnesses who were outside of the premises were overheard saying that they saw when the suspect entered the business but paid him no heed as he held a copy of the day’s programme in his hands and assumed he was there to place his bets. They noted that they did not realize Persaud was being robbed until they heard a gunshot and saw the suspect with a gun in his hand running away.
The victim was subsequently taken to the hospital.
A 9mm casing was found by police at the scene.
Investigations are ongoing.
