By Zoisa Fraser
A 35-year-old scrap metal dealer was fatally shot yesterday afternoon on Brickdam by one of two bandits who had seconds before snatched a bag containing some $2 million from his wife.
Dead is Akbar Alli, a member of the Guyana Islamic Trust and resident of Logwood, Enmore, East Coast Demerara. He sustained a single gunshot wound to the chest just after 1 pm yesterday and died at the Georgetown Public Hospital some 15 minutes later while undergoing treatment. Hospital sources told this newspaper that when the man arrived at the institution he was gasping for air.
Stabroek News was told that Alli would travel to Georgetown almost on a daily basis to withdraw money from a city bank to pay his workers and to buy scrap metal. From all appearances, the two bandits trailed him on a motorcycle and when the car stopped, they pounced.
According to the police, their investigations have so far revealed that Alli and his wife went to a city bank where they transacted some business. They then went to another city bank and then proceeded to Brickdam with the intention of transacting business with an auto dealer.
Alli, according to the police, parked his motor vehicle and he and his wife, who was holding a bag containing $2.1 million were about to exit the vehicle when two men rode up on a motorcycle. The pillion rider, who was armed with a handgun, held them up and took away the bag and the men the rode away.
Alli began running behind the motorcycle and the armed man then shot him in his chest.
Investigations are continuing and up to press time last evening, no one had been held.
A man who was in the area when the robbery/murder occurred said he heard the gunshot and when he looked he saw a man on his knees at the side of the car and two unmasked men, both dressed in white t-shirts, riding away on a motorcycle.
He said they were speeding so it was hard to see any faces from where he was standing. The witness told this newspaper that one of the men had a small bag with two straps in his hand.
Others in the immediate area of the shooting said that they too heard a single gunshot but by the time they ventured out to see what had happened, the injured man had already been whisked away to the hospital and there was nothing to indicate that something had indeed occurred.
A man working a short distance away said when he arrived at the scene a crowd had gathered and he was informed that a man was shot during a robbery. He said he had heard what sounded liked a gunshot.
The man, like many others in that area, was shocked to hear that the man had died at the hospital.
Meanwhile at the hospital, loud wails erupted from the treatment room at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Unit as the man’s relatives got news of his passing.
Relatives and workers flocked the area with saddened expressions on their faces. Some had tears welling in their eyes. Many of those this newspaper spoke with said that they were unaware of what actually transpired as they were informed via telephone about the tragedy.
One relative said that it was Alli’s wife who called and informed him of the shooting. He said that from what he was told it was the wife that drove the injured man to the hospital.
Over at the East Coast community, villagers were in shock. At his home, which was surrounded by piles of scrap iron, workers were busily carrying out their regular duties.
One worker told Stabroek News, “he [Alli] was a really, really nice person. If ya sick he there fuh you, if ya need money he there for you. He was a gentle and kind man…liked by all in the community.” This newspaper was told that Alli, who had been in the scrap metal business for some four years, had built a masjid for members of his community opposite his home.
The businessman provided work for some 30 to 40 persons on a daily basis.
His brother Zaman was in shock. The man said that as he was preparing to leave his home after hearing of the shooting, he got another call informing him that his brother was dead.
Alli leaves behind two young children, his wife Rameena and eight siblings.
