Bartica reeled yesterday, stunned at the murders of 12 persons including three policemen in the Region Seven community by heavily-armed gunmen, who, in a well planned attack, also stole a quantity of guns and ammunition on Sunday night.
As residents cowered in their homes, fearful for their lives, the gunmen took over the mining community for just over an hour and in a blitz of deadly bullets began a reign of terror and death. Concentrating mainly on the community’s commercial area at First Avenue, at the end of the strafing, several persons lay dead, some shot in the head execution style.
Dead are Bartica residents Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian and Irving Ferreira; policemen stationed at the Bartica Police Station, Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir, and Constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne, and Deonarine Singh of Wakenaam; Ronald Gomes of Kuru Kururu; Ashraf Khan of Middlesex, Essequibo; Abdool Yasin; Errol Thomas of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and Baldeo Singh of Montrose, East Coast Demerara, who were shot execution style at the Transport and Harbours Stelling.
Dressed in military type clothing and in bulletproof vests and armed with rapid-fire guns, the gunmen, who residents estimated numbered around 20 descended first upon the Bartica Police Station in a well-planned attack. The police said some of the gunmen were dressed in foreign camouflage and khaki clothing and some residents said they also appeared to be wearing helmets. After the incident the police said that 165 spent shells of 7.62 x 39 calibre, eight 7.62 x 51 spent shells, three .32 spent shells along with eleven 7.62 x 39 and fifteen .32 live rounds were recovered.
In the light of day yesterday, the community seemed like a ghost town, except for First Avenue, which buzzed with activity, as residents congregated to discuss the horrifying incident.
Stores, shops and other businesses remained closed yesterday and schools were empty. In disbelief that such an incident could occur in their laid-back community, many struggled to come to grips with the tragedy. While many of the persons killed were not permanent residents of the tightly-knit community, for those that were, the memories flowed. Emphasizing the precision of the attack and the gunmen’s knowledge of the community, residents felt that that among the gunmen were persons who knew the community well.
Police station
Upon entering the community, the base for miners leaving to search for gold in the country’s interior, the gunmen struck first at the Bartica Police Station. Zakir, Fredericks and Osborne were on duty and were shot in the inquiries office. Constables Mark Campbell and Chester Benjamin were wounded in the attack. Campbell sustained a gunshot wound to his upper left side while Benjamin was shot in both hands and in the right hip. At the station, the gunmen broke into the steel strong box and took away several guns and a quantity of ammunition. One of the firearms has been recovered, the police said.
The gunmen also broke into another safe that contained $65,450, which they took and then grabbed the keys for the police Land Rover.
They then left the station and shooting indiscriminately took the life of 47-year-old Edwin Gilkes, the security guard at the Banks DIH outlet at First Avenue, which is located close to the Bartica Police Station. Also shot and injured was Melrose Allicock of Bartica Housing Scheme to whom Gilkes was reportedly speaking at the time. Fifteen-year-old Lisa Narine, who was selling at a nearby stand, was also shot in her left foot.
The gunmen then descended upon the CBR Mining Company, further up First Avenue and shot 72-year-old security guard, Irving Ferreira even as he attempted to flee. The man met his death while trying to hide in a freezer and was then shot in the head by the gunmen. Showing awareness of the security arrangements, the killers also shot at a security camera. Once inside the building, the gunmen broke into a safe and removed 11 guns: six shotguns and five .32 pistols and a quantity of ammunition. Police said that the gunmen also took away two safes containing gold, jewellery and cash.
“The joint services and police have to do more work,” Chunilall Babulall, owner of the company said even as he described the incident as “a tragic blow to Bartica and its environs”. Babulall was not home at the time of the incident.
‘Riddled him
with bullets’
Just as the killers were arriving at the mining company, 38-year-old taxi-driver and miner, Dexter Adrian, of One and a Half Miles, Bartica-Potaro Road was heading there to purchase gas for his car. He was shot while in the vehicle and died on the spot. His reputed wife Sheleza Khan told reporters that he had left home to drop off a girl and had also picked up a neighbour, Raymond White. White was also shot and is a patient at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Adrian was just opposite the CBR Mining Company when the gunmen pulled up in the police Land Rover and shot him dead. “They riddled him with bullets, they riddled his body,” Khan stated.
After their deadly strike at the mining company, the bandits turned their attention to the home of a businessman and broke into the heavily-grilled home of Gurudat Singh, a gold dealer of First Avenue, a short distance away from the company. Firing their weapons and then using a sledge-hammer, they broke a window and knocked out part of a concrete grill to gain access to the home. Singh said that the gunmen took away two attach
