Large gang of gunmen in city shooting spree
Cop murdered
By Andre Haynes and Edlyn Benfield
Regent Street – While directing traffic, he was shot dead by gunmen, who let off a barrage of bullets and unleased terror with channa bombs, before making off with $25M from Gobind’s Variety Store.
One policeman was shot dead as a large gang of gunmen let off a barrage of bullets along Regent Street yesterday morning and unleashed terror with channa bombs before making off with at least $2.5M from Gobind’s Variety Store and Cambio.
Police have taken two persons into custody and are said to be searching the East Coast for gang members who vanished into the cane fields of the East Demerara Sugar Estates after hijacking motorbikes from GUYSUCO workers at La Bonne Intention. Sources said that raids on specific houses in Buxton were carried out yesterday. The audacious attack and drama-filled escape heralded the reemergence of the type of crime that besieged the country since the February 23 escape of five men from the Georgetown Prison.
There had been a lull in such crimes since October 28 when two of the men were killed in shoot-outs The gunmen, who police say numbered between 12 to 15 are believed to have hijack at least two cars moments before the attack on the cambio in what appeared to be a well-planned operation. The hijacked vehicle were later abandoned in Campbellville and on the Rupert Craig highway at Conversation Tree where volleys of gunfire went off. The driver and conductor of a minibus which had earlier been, hijacked were detained at the Vigilance Police Station.