-attackers hid behind truck on Savage St
-neighbourhood also sprayed with gunfire
Gunmen early yesterday morning rained bullets on a car in North East La Penitence carrying four men to a mosque, injuring two of them.
The motive of the gunmen, said to be three in number and armed with various weapons, including a rapid-fire gun, was unclear. Injured are the driver of the vehicle, Wayne Smith, 47, of East La Penitence and Abdullah Muhammed, 54, of North East La Penitence.
Smith sustained at least four gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and arm and was taken to a private hospital where he underwent surgery to remove the bullets, sources said. His relatives were unavailable for comment yesterday. Muhammed was shot on his left arm, just underneath his elbow. He was seen at the Georgetown Public Hospital, treated and sent away. The bullet is still lodged in his arm, he told this newspaper.
Police, said in a statement that the incident occurred at about 4:15 am yesterday. Smith and Muhammed also known as Winston Edwards were with two other men in motor car, PKK 1659 on Savage Street, “when person or persons unknown fired several bullets at them, hitting Smith on his right arm and shoulder and Mohamed on his right hand”, the police stated. Sixteen 7.62 x 39 and one .32 spent shells were found at the scene, the police added.
Muhammed told Stabroek News that they were all heading to the mosque when the incident occurred. He recalled that Smith had picked him up first and then they had gone to pick up the two other men. As they were half-way out of the small street, the gunmen, who were apparently lying in wait behind a parked truck, pounced and opened fire.
The man said that he was sitting in the front passenger seat and immediately “ducked down” and did not see anything except a spark on the bonnet of the car. He recalled that as the gunmen let loose a fusillade on the car, Smith was unable to “duck down” as he had done as the seatbelt prevented him from doing so. He noted that it was dark at the time and so he really could not have seen anything on the outside but was later told that there were three gunmen. He recalled feeling the sensation of being hit and seeing a lot of blood.
According to him, the shooting lasted for about five minutes but a resident said that it lasted for about a minute. In the course of the shooting the gunmen also sprayed the surrounding area with bullets and several slugs hit a nearby house while a car belonging to a resident was also hit. This newspaper was told that a car then pulled up and sped away with the gunmen.
A resident rushed the injured men to the Georgetown Public Hospital. During the ordeal, Muhammed recalled, they called 911 several times but the number always rang out. “911 is useless”, he declared. Muhammed said that he had no problems with anyone and could not think of any reason why he and his “brothers” would be the targets of anyone.
“I don’t think we were the intended victims”, he asserted adding that the gunmen probably took them for someone else. The man -noting that it was the month of Ramadan, said that they normally went to the mosque at the same time every day and did not notice anything out of the ordinary yesterday until the gunmen pounced. He declared that it was a case of mistaken identity. He said that Smith usually picked them up.
Bullet holes were evident at one of the homes that this newspaper visited and according to the resident at least one of the weapons used was a rapid-fire gun. No-one was present at Smith’s home yesterday and a resident said that he lived alone and did not interact much with anyone.
Police said that investigations are continuing.
The shooting was reminiscent of many carried out in recent years by mysterious gangs. Police have usually been unable to apprehend the perpetrators or to provide the motive for the attacks. Apparent contract killings have also been carried out in this way.
