Two bandits shot dead by police
By Kim Lucas and Oscar P Clarke
Two men who robbed a gas station in the city last night were shot dead by police at the entrance of Republic Park on the East Bank Demerara.
Up to this morning, the police were unable to identify the men.
The gun battle shattered the calm of the neighbourhood shortly after 9 pm sending residents scurrying in all directions. Those who were already secure in their homes were forced to hit the floor and remain there until some 10 to 15 minutes later when the commotion ended.
When they emerged, two men were dead on the street leading into republic Park. One was at the head of the street with his intestines protruding, while the second was lying half out of a car, PHH 5113, a short distance in the street. The police said they suspect that the car might have been stolen but were unable to confirm this last night.
A third man, whom reports state might have been wounded, escaped. Residents of Norton Street, Bagotstown, claimed to have seen a man running through the village while gunshots were still being heard. They said his clothes appeared to be covered with mud. Halfway into the street, the man apparently stripped the shirt and continued to flee. One resident said the man had ran through the bushes behind the village office, crossed a plot of land behind the cane juice stand, then a swampy area, before cutting through a shortcut.
Stabroek News last night found the blue stripe ‘Gap’ shirt on the roadway in Norton Street.
Reports reaching this newspaper state that the three gun-toting bandits robbed the pump attendants at the Texaco Gas Station and Minimart at the comer of Princes and High Streets, of jewellery and over $40,000 in cash shortly before 9 pm last night.
The men escaped after a guard opened fire. According to the robbery victims, the first thief came from High Street and turned into Princes Street, returning with two others, one of whom was wearing a black and white headtie.
One attendant said the men pointed their weapons at them and ordered them to hand over “everything yuh got”, before further instructing them to “lie down”.
The frightened woman said she along with the other attendants immediately removed their jewellery and emptied their pockets of cash.
Stabroek News understands that the police got a tip off and went after the men. Reports state that as the men were about to turn into Republic Park, they recognised the Police and opened fire, forcing the law enforcers to reply. That resulted in the deaths of two of the men.
The police recovered two weapons – a ‘Carbine’ and an ‘Intrepid’ – from PHH 5113, as well as a bag of cash.
A huge crowd had gathered while the police tried unsuccessfully to keep curious onlookers at bay. One man in the crowd claimed that he narrowly escaped death, as he and his family were caught in the crossfire.
He, his wife, two young children and two other relatives were walking through the street to Republic Park, when they heard a screeching noise behind them from two vehicles.
“De two vehicles kissed together (as] they turn together in de street. They [jammed] together and I tell them [his wife and kids] to ‘Run!’ I don’t know what happen to them. I need to go home,” the diminutive man lamented.
He said one of the vehicles was a four-runner. A vehicle fitting that description appeared to have crashed into the fence of the Mosque, which is located at the junction with the East Bank Public Road. The car, PHH 5113 was nearby.
Later, as residents reported seeing a man running in the midst of the gun battle, the same man who claimed to have been separated from his family, piped up: “Is I is de man who run through de short cut. Is I is the person who the people run behind and pelt shots. The people run behind me…l jump and I lie down. Me shoes, me chain, everything I kick off. I jump and when I lie down, I roll and then they fire again…I tek off de [white] jersey and I had on me black vest and I roll and, eventually, I jump over de gutter and I keep running. I is de same boy who run through the short cut. I don’t know who shoot at me, but de people who went running behind me, they gun have red light. I had to run fo save meself… After I tek off the jersey, they couldna see me no mo, so they stop fire.”
Some hours later, the bodies of the dead men were lifted into a hearse and taken to a city morgue. (Additional reporting by Edlyn Benfield)
Republic Park shootout
Dead bandits identified
One of Iwo gunmen killed in a shootout with the police on Tuesday night was yesterday identified as a former member of the Guyana Defence Force.
A well-placed source last night identified the men as Emmanuel Wright and Junior Liverpool, the former being an ex-soldier of East Coast Demerara; the latter reportedly from Linden.
The duo was suspected to be part of the gang that robbed a Texaco Gas Station in the city, shortly before engaging the police in a gun battle. The shootout occurred at the entrance to Republic Park, East Bank Demerara.
Sources said Wright’s brother was accompanied by the police yesterday when he turned up at the Newburg Funeral Home to identify the body.
Liverpool was identified by his mother, whom sources said was due to return to the United States shortly. The two men, along with a third had robbed the Texaco Gas Station at the corner of Princes and High streets, just minutes before the shootout.
The third man escaped, and according to a police source, there was a trail of excrement from the scene of the shootout, into the canefields.
“We believe that he was badly injured and are hunting for him… Those were the same three men who robbed [the Texaco] Infinity Gas Station earlier that night,” a police source told this newspaper last night.
The gun battle started at Republic Park shortly after 9:00 pm, sending residents scurrying in all directions. When it was over, Liverpool and Wright were dead – one at the head of the street, and the other in a hijacked car bearing the licence plate PHH 5113.
The police had apparently spotted the men and began to trail them. When the gunmen realised that they were being followed, sources said, they opened fire on the police. In the commotion, one of the police’s vehicles crashed into a nearby fence.
The police recovered two weapons – a ‘Carbine’ and an ‘Intrepid’ submachine gun – from the gunmen’s car, as well as a bag of cash and matching ammunition.
The police, in a release, said that at 9:15 pm. a police mobile patrol was cm patrol duty at the Eccles Public Road, East Bank Demerara. When they observed a car. PHH 5113, with three suspicious occupants.
“The occupants of the car, on seeing the police patrol, started to drive at a very fast rate, overtaking a number of vehicles. The police give chase and came under fire from the occupants of the said car, which turned east into Republic Park and ended up in a ditch,” the police statement said.
Further, the police said there was an exchange of gunfire between the occupants of the car and the police, resulting in two of the occupants being fatally shot. They said the car’s original registration number is HB 310, and that it was hijacked from its driver on Monday night. Investigations are continuing.
