Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, has requested that all firearms be taken from OP Security Service following the fatal shooting that occurred in Dazzell, Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara on Tuesday.
Benn told Stabroek News last evening that he requested the police to take into their possession all firearms from the OP Security Service.
Stephan Hope, 31, a security officer of Haslington, East Coast Demerara, and employed by OP Security Service, has been identified as the murder suspect. He remains hospitalised in critical condition with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
A police report on Tuesday stated that the suspect fatally shot Ashanti Liverpool, a 24-year-old security officer. The suspect once shared a common-law relationship with the deceased woman’s sister.
Enquiries revealed that at about 12:20 am on Tuesday, the suspect went to the Hong Kong Chinese Supermarket located at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, where he met his co-worker, a 23-year-old security officer, who at the time was armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and eight live rounds of ammunition.
The suspect told his colleague that the supervisor had sent him to collect the rifle. The security officer told police that he made several calls to his supervisor’s cellphone, but got no answer. The suspect then collected the firearm with ammunition and went away.
He then entered the house and found Liverpool in bed. He then demanded to be told about her sister’s whereabouts (she had left the house a short while before the suspect arrived). This prompted Liverpool to run outside, and as she made her way out of the yard and headed east along the access road, the suspect opened fire on her with the rifle.
The suspect then mounted his motorcycle and left the scene. He proceeded to Hong Xing Supermarket at Industry Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara, where he met with another colleague, a 29-year-old security officer, who at the time was also armed with an AR-15 with six live matching rounds of ammunition.
The suspect told his colleague that he needed his help in clearing the rifle which he had in his possession because a round was stuck in the breech. The colleague took the rifle from the suspect and attempted to clear it outside the supermarket, leaving his firearm inside the supermarket where the suspect was.
While attempting to clear the rifle, the colleague heard a loud explosion from inside the supermarket, and upon checking, saw the suspect on the ground. When he went to his aid, he saw what appeared to be blood coming from the left side of his chest with the firearm beside him.
A patrol from Sparendaam Police Station was summoned, and the suspect was picked up in an unconscious state and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital. On his arrival, he was admitted nursing a single gunshot wound to the chest.
