A policeman died yesterday after being shot several times during the Carib Soca Monarch contest in New Amsterdam causing panic and pandemonium and his alleged assailant was hit several times by a licensed firearm holder while attempting to flee.
Police constable #17890 Michael Cort, 27, of Eldorado, West Coast Berbice succumbed at the Georgetown Hospital at around 10.30 am yesterday after being rushed there from the New Amsterdam Hospital. His alleged assailant, Dorset McCammon is now under police guard at the New Amsterdam Hospital. Several weeks ago McCammon was shot in his jaw while at a wake in New Amsterdam in what is believed to have been an execution attempt. Yesterday’s fatal confrontation is believed to be linked to this incident.
In a statement, the police said that at 1.30 am yesterday Cort was shot by the suspect who is now in police custody.
“Cort was at the (soca) semi finals when the suspect approached him and fired several rounds in his direction. He sustained injuries to his neck, left thigh and shin. The suspect, while attempting to flee, was shot in his chest, abdomen, and left arm by a (licensed) firearm holder who was nearby”. The police said that investigators recovered one .32 revolver containing one .32 live round and four spent shells.
The shooting brought the competition to an abrupt end. It occurred minutes after the performance of a song by artiste Lucky B, ‘Rred’, in a red superman costume, which included the chorus ‘stop the violence’.
The shooting at the Esplanade Ground, New Amsterdam occurred during one of the final breaks in the soca show and with two of the fifteen contestants left to be judged. Shots began to ring out in the southwestern section of the crowd and people began running and screaming in all directions as chaos erupted on the ball field.
It is alleged that McCammon, 26, who was shot in the jaw a little over two weeks ago, approached Cort and shot him at close range. The officer, who was on duty at the time, was working at the gate but had left his post to get something at the bar when he was accosted.
In his bid to escape however, an armed civilian saw him and began to fire at him. McCammon ran behind a parked truck but the civilian pursued him and shot him in the upper body, his stomach and hands, according to his mother, Marilyn. McCammon fell and police shortly afterward removed a small handgun which was lying on the ground next to him.
As the crowd gathered around and persons recognized McCammon as one of the injured men many of them began to express disbelief and wondered how he could have been back in the area so soon after having been shot in the jaw. Shortly afterward persons began to scatter again as it seemed the man was going to be shot at again.
However, he was eventually put into the back of a canter truck from where he was placed in a dark blue police van in the ground which took him to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Reports are that he was placed on the lawns of the hospital until his family arrived and raised objections.
After the incident the MC Mondale Smith advised patrons that all 15 of the contestants who had qualified for the semifinals would go through to the final event in Georgetown next Saturday. The patrons who were left in the ground following the eruption of gunshots then made their way out of the ground.
Sources informed this newspaper that McCammon, who was in the Georgetown Hospital after being shot, had identified Cort as one of the individuals responsible for him being shot in the jaw.
Persons close to McCammon indicated that some others who wanted him dead for a previous incident, which he was suspected to be a part of, contracted the first shooting incident. McCammon, the last of four children and his mother’s only son, has been described as a notorious individual in the New Amsterdam area. It was related that the man is frequently in and out of the hospital and has had run-ins with the law.
Stabroek News understands the man was staying with his sister in Georgetown. He had been left at her home while the rest of the family went to Berbice for a funeral. McCammon apparently decided to head to the Esplanade Ground instead where during a break he allegedly made a move on the policeman. Last evening McCammon was conscious but he was in a lot of pain and could not move his feet without help. Marilyn said that her son was badly beaten and had undergone an operation at the hospital.
Cort was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital from where he was transported in a police vehicle to the Georgetown Public Hospital. Cort leaves to mourn his mother, wife Bernadette McKenzie and four-year-old son Kurtel Cort. Described as a friendly and quiet individual Cort was a ten-year veteran in the police force and was recently transferred to the New Amsterdam central police station.
McCammon was shot around 11:40 pm on January 25. Stabroek News had been told at the time that the man was playing a game of dominoes when a lone gunman who had a cap pulled over his face walked up and pointed a gun to his head.
McCammon who apparently did not notice the gun, raised his head at the same time the gunman pulled the trigger. The bullet ended up hitting the left temple.
A woman who travelled from Georgetown for the wake that was kept in honour of her mother said the man fell to the ground unconscious and bleeding while the gunman calmly escaped.
She said everyone thought McCammon was dead but a few minutes later he got up and walked out of the yard.
The woman said at first when she heard the gunshot she thought it was a robbery.
Cort is the latest law enforcement officer to die from a bullet. Prior to yesterday’s killing, Kwesi Lawrence died on July 30 last year after a member of the joint services shot him accidentally while cleaning his gun. Around that time, the joint services had been engaged in a ferocious battle with gunmen at the back of Victoria. Between 2002 – when a bloody crime wave was launched by the prison escapees – and now, around 30 policemen have lost their lives at the hands of criminals or violently.
