Spate of shootings
Two men shot dead outside video shop
CID ranks, vendor injured
By Kim Lucas, Oscar P. Clarke and Andre Haynes
A spate of shootings last night in the city left two men dead and two policemen and a vendor injured as the torrent of crime continues unabated.
The two men, both employees of the Chapman and Trotman law firm, were shot dead outside a video store on Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge while the policemen were injured in shootings in other parts of the city.
Dead are Orin Shultz, 29, of 33 Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge and Gladwin Fecker, 38, of Albouystown and Linden. Shultz was employed as a lawyer’s clerk while Fecker was said to be a security official at the same law firm. Stabroek News understands that Fecker had once been employed as a body-guard for treason accused Mark Benschop during the 2001 election campaign.
When this newspaper turned up on the scene shortly after the 8 pm shooting, only Shultz’s body was seen at the entrance of ‘Basic Mini Mart’, which shares the ground floor of the Lot 5 Joseph Pollydore Street building with Video Phonix Entertainment Centre.
He was lying on his back, with his eyes half open and his blue shirt was soaked with blood at the chest. An assortment of folded papers and two cigarettes were strewn on the ground, to the left of his head. Shultz appeared to have been shot in the chest, right arm, right finger and the right side of his face. There was an indentation in the concrete, close to the right side of his head as if he had fallen hard when hit.
As investigators swarmed around Shultz, a cry went up that another body was found at the back of the yard, west of the video store. Shortly after, police ranks emerged from the yard carrying Fecker’s body. Some spectators said that the man was still alive, as he appeared to be breathing. Others contended that he was already dead.
The cops immediately stopped a passing pick-up vehicle and placed Fecker’s body in the open-back tray.
The man was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
One man told Stabroek News that Shultz and Fecker were frequent visitors to the video club in the evening. The visibly shaken man said he, Shultz and some other friends were inside the club talking about videos, when someone, from the outside, called for Schultz.
The man could not recall exactly what was said to gain Shultz’s attention, but he saw when Shultz turned, looked outside, then left their company.
Immediately after Shultz went outside, there were two “explosions”, the man said, but he and the other friends did not think anything was amiss. It was not until they heard a series of gunshots that they all hit the floor. Fecker was apparently outside already.
According to another man, at least two pairs of feet were seen “hustling” past the video store, heading west on the pavement. Other persons from the neighbourhood also claimed to have seen two men run into separate yards after the shooting. It is surmised that Fecker ran into the other yard to escape the gunman.
A large crowd of curious onlookers converged on the scene last night, including Shultz’s reputed wife, Alicia Glasgow, who screamed and collapsed on seeing his body. The man’s brother, ‘Tony’ and mother, Elaine, too, could barely contain their grief.
Shultz’s mother wailed all the way back to the family home, which is about a corner away from where the shooting took place. According to her, two mini-bus conductors had threatened the young man last week after an altercation.
“Ow! Ah tell he be careful and come home when he done wuk…Ow! Tony yuh ain’t got a brother no mo’…Dem two children lef without a daddie now!” the woman cried.
She recalled the last time her son spoke to her was to say that he had just put his elder son in a bus for home.
Shultz, the fourth of five children for his parents, also leaves to mourn two children – Nicholas, aged seven years and one-year-old Shemar.
Last night, attorney-at-law Raphael Trotman said he was saddened by the senseless death of two employees of his family’s law firm.
He told Stabroek News both men were friends of his and he was trying to gather as much information as possible on what had happened. Schultz’s had worked him for around eight years while Fecker had been employed him since last year.
In the other shootings, one policeman is now nursing wounds to his face and his right shoulder after two men reportedly walked up to him and opened fire at the Crystal Bay Hangout Bar.
Ceon Pollard, 29, a police constable attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Eve Leary, suffered a close range wound to his face in the vicinity of his chin and another wound to his shoulder and is in stable condition following the attack. It seems clear that he was deliberately targeted by the gunmen as other policemen have been.
Sources told Stabroek News that the shooting took place sometime between 8 pm and 8.15 pm, at the popular nightspot which is just across the street from the Georgetown Prison.
The men, according to eyewitness reports, walked towards the bar and opened fire on the officer, who immediately ran for cover.
As he attempted to flee the scene the men are said to have pursued while continuing to fire at the already wounded man, who they managed to hit on his shoulder before escaping from the scene.
Other bystanders at the nearby drugstore at the corner of Camp and Durban were also caught in the line of fire but managed to escape injury. According to a source the wounds suffered by Pollard were inflicted by a 9 mm calibre weapon.
Stabroek News understands that Pollard, following the incident, fled the scene and made his way to CID Headquarters from where he was escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital by other ranks. When Stabroek News arrived at the scene small crowds had assembled along Durban Street. It was said that the attack was perpetrated by men for whom police had issued several wanted bulletins.
Meanwhile, another police rank and a woman were treated for gunshot wounds they sustained in an incident which may have been linked to the Crystal Bay shooting. Stabroek News understands that Police Constable Kwame Wright, who is also attached to CID HQ, and a woman, Nicola Tappin, a vendor of the East Ruimveldt Housing Scheme, were injured when gunmen opened fire on them. Wright is believed to have been the target of the attack while Tappin a bystander was caught in the line of fire.
The incident is said to have occurred at the Berbice car park in the vicinity of Quality Fast Food where Tappin usually vends.
Sources said the officer suffered gunshot wounds in the region of his groin, right forearm and left leg while there were conflicting report s on the woman’s injuries.
They were both rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where they were treated.
In the crime spree that has gripped the country, 10 policemen have been shot dead by the criminals who have clearly been targeting them.
