Keith Mitchell, who died shortly after being shot in the left thigh by a policeman last Friday, was chased on foot by two ranks to the empty lot in Anira Street where the incident occurred.
The man is alleged to have stolen a windscreen from a minibus lodged at Police Traffic Headquarters, Eve Leary. He was chased by police from the Eve Leary location to Lot 28 in Anira Street where he was shot by one of two ranks pursuing him. Mitchell, a senior police source yesterday said, jumped Traffic Headquarters’ “back fence” to gain entry to the compound last Friday morning. He was seen by a resident who immediately informed ranks at the location about the intrusion, the source said.
“He [Mitchell] jumped the back fence at the Traffic Headquarters compound,” the police source said. “Someone saw him and called the police…he was chased on foot from Traffic Headquarters to Anira Street.”
The incident, according to a police press statement last Friday, occurred around 4.45 am. Mitchell, police alleged, had stolen a windscreen off a minibus that was lodged in the compound of Traffic Headquarters and was subsequently shot in his left thigh by a policeman. He later died at the Georgetown Public Hospital while receiving medical attention.
Investigations, police had said, revealed that Mitchell had been seen riding a bicycle in the vicinity of Traffic Headquarters some time before the incident. He was subsequently seen leaving the Traffic Headquarters compound with a front windscreen that had been taken off a minibus. Ranks on duty challenged him but he ran away.
Mitchell, according to the police, was pursued and the policemen caught up with him at Anira Street, “and during efforts to arrest him he was shot to his left upper thigh by one of the ranks who was armed with a service firearm”.
Meanwhile, police said the stolen windscreen was recovered along with the bicycle which was found in the Police Sports Club Ground, which is next to Traffic Headquarters. Stabroek News understands that Mitchell left the bicycle at Military Road, Eve Leary while he was in the Traffic Headquarters compound.
The man’s relatives had said they are not satisfied with the details provided to them by police and they don’t believe that Mitchell was stealing anything from the police compound. Police have not yet provided further details
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud when questioned about security at Traffic Headquarters yesterday described it as a “secure compound”. However, the Crime Chief was unable to give further details of security at Traffic Headquarters in terms of how many ranks secure the compound after daylight hours and how they are distributed.
“I can’t say how many policemen were securing the compound,” Persaud said. “But the number of ranks assigned depends on the threat level and the availability of resources at the time.”
Traffic Chief Neil Semple remained unavailable for comment on the matter up to late yesterday afternoon.