By Oscar P. Clarke
Two carloads of armed men riddled the Alberttown police station with gunfire last night killing a ruralconstable, Andy Atwell and wounding another in his arm.
If there had been any doubt that the police were being targeted by criminals in recent weeks that was dispelled by last night’s attack which was one of the most outrageous and heinous since the eruption of a crime wave. Observers saw it as a virtual throwing down of the gauntlet to the police by the criminals.
Atwell was hit by four or five bullets including one to the chest which entered one side and exited the other. He is the fourth policeman to be killed in just under three months by criminals. According to reports, Atwell was just outside the station entrance in the yard when several men who were aboard one of two white cars approached the station shortly after 10 pm. They emerged from the car and began discharging rapid bursts of gunfire and the other car did the same from another vantage point before the men scrambled back into their vehicles and escaped west along Fourth Street.
Up to early this morning, police were attempting to control curious on-lookers who had gathered at the scene while their colleagues and others from the forensics department began combing the area in an attempt to gather clues to aid in their investigations.
Curious residents of the neighbourhood gathered near the station as armed policemen cordoned off the area.
Commissioner of Police Floyd McDonald arrived at the station at 11:13 pm and was followed shortly after by Deputy Commissioner, Winston Felix and Assistant Commissioner, Leon Trim.
After a spending just close to an hour in the station the commissioner emerged and told media representatives gathered that an investigation had been launched into the shooting.
According to the commissioner, police were not immediately able to determine a motive for the armed assault on the station especially one that occurred with such ferocity.
He, however, acknowledged that steps are being taken to offer greater protection to stations while stating that police are always prepared for any eventuality.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene minutes after the shooting, armed members of the Police Target Special Squad were directing traffic away from the station as fire tenders arrived to deal with a fire which had ignited in the arms store at the station.
The fire had erupted after the arms store was hit by a bullet or bullets from the attackers.
However, prior to the arrival of the fire service, a bucket brigade was mounted by ranks to save the wooden structure from being consumed by flames. Several prisoners in the lockups at Alberttown had to be evacuated during the fire scare.
Witnesses told Stabroek News that two white cars with several men descended on the station, one proceeding to the entrance located on Fourth Street while the other stopped the corner of Albert and Fourth Street. After stopping, armed men emerged and began raining shots at the building.
The firing, which was kept up for several minutes, resounded throughout the neighbourhood as ranks on duty in the station, took cover.
Once the assault was over and the men had fled, a public-spirited citizen ferried the critically wound rank to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The injured rank was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The explosion in crime came following the February 23 escape of five men from the Camp Street Prison during which a prison guard was killed and another critically injured. The five men are Dale Moore, Andrew Douglas, Mark Fraser, Shawn Browne and Troy Dick.
Besides Atwell, three other policemen have been killed by criminals recently. They are police superintendent Leon Fraser, detective Harry Kooseram and policeman Sherwin Alleyne. Alleyne died after he and three other cops were attacked by gunmen at Coldingen on Saturday night. Prior to that, a police patrol at Buxton had come under attack and one rank was injured.
As has been the modus operandi in the past, it appears that two cars which were hijacked earlier yesterday were used by the attackers in the assault on the station.
