Sophia resident shot dead after Tiger Bay robbery
By Edlyn Benfield
A 25-year-old man was fatally shot by a licensed firearm holder at around 1215 hrs yesterday, a short distance from his family’s home on Holmes Street, South Cummingsburg, popularly known as ‘Tiger Bay.’ The police say he was one of three robbers who attacked the firearm holder.
Dead is Miguel Accra, 25, of North-East Sophia, Georgetown.
According to Cheryl Anthony, the dead man’s cousin, Accra had earlier been at the nearby wharf and just as he returned from there, another relative requested that he purchase something for a younger cousin.
Anthony said she was selling cherry juice at her small shop on Holmes Street, when she saw Accra proceeding east. She said she then observed two men running in a westerly direction. Thereafter, Anthony recalled, a man emerged from R.G. Humphrey Machinery Sales and Service Inc at the comer of Main and Holmes streets, and fired about three shots, hitting her cousin in the region of the heart.
Reports said that when the police arrived at the scene, they picked up the dead man’s brother, Delon Accra and fired shots in the air before leaving the area. Anthony related that Delon was about to leave for the hospital when the police took him away. She said she was not sure whether the man who shot her cousin was robbed.
Stabroek News managed to speak with Delon Accra later yesterday afternoon, and he related that the police took him to the Brickdam Police Station where he was released shortly afterward. He said he was told by the police that they had taken him to the station for the purpose of identification, but he was unsure whom he was to identify.
Accra also said that members of the Target Special Squad (TSS) escorted the firearm holder to the Brickdam police station from Humphrey’s Store where he returned after the shooting.
In a press release, the police said that Accra was one of three robbers, armed with knives and cutlasses, who approached the licensed firearm holder while he was conducting business at Humphrey’s Store.
The release said that the deceased pointed a knife in the man’s face and snatched a gold chain valued $25,000 from around his neck at which time, the victim discharged two rounds in self defence, and Accra fell to the pavement.
One of the accomplices snatched the gold chain after it fell and ran away along with another accomplice, the release stated, adding that investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident are currently in progress.
