-maintains it was case of mistaken identity
Wayne Smith, one of the survivors of the Savage Street ambush said that the gunmen’s intention on Sunday morning was to kill and stressed that neither he nor the other occupants of the car could have been the intended targets.
He, like the other survivors, continues to maintain that the incident is a case of mistaken identity as they had no grievances with anyone that could have fuelled the early morning attack.
The police came under criticism yesterday for their apparent lack of interest in the investigation and their inability to make headway in the case. For the second day running, when Stabroek News contacted the police, there was no solid lead that could prompt an arrest or determine a motive.
Smith at the time of the incident was taking three of his Muslim brothers to the New Mosque in Ruimveldt to pray. He is currently recuperating at a city hospital after undergoing emergency surgery to remove three bullets from his shoulder.
When Stabroek News visited him, his shoulder was heavily bandaged and despite his discomfort he was able to recount his terrifying experience.
According to Smith, the car that he was driving belongs to Denis Edwards and he would usually keep it at his home.
As customary, for some time now, he would first pick up Winston Edwards called Abdullah Muhammed, then his cousin Denis and then anyone else who wanted to go to the Masjid to pray.
“We pray five time a day so we would go out early to pray every morning, We normally leave home at 4 30. It is a habit. It is a way of life and the morning of the incident, it was around the same time too”.
Smith said that on Sunday morning as usual he picked up the two Edwardses and another Muslim brother, Omali (only name given) and just as he was driving down a short street that connects to Savage Street, a man pounced from behind a canter truck parked at the side of the road.
All the men reside in the North East La Penitence area. Winston was sitting in the passenger front seat while Denis and Omali were in the back seat.
Smith recalled that the man moved in the direction of the car and fired a shot in their direction.
“I saw it hit the hood of the car, and I said `squib’ and then I said no. I saw a man in the distance and I said `shots, everybody down!’”, he said.
He said that at the time, he was wearing his seatbelt and this prevented him from ducking in time.
“After I heard shots, I don’t know, Allah was in charge, not me. I killed the machine and I tried diving for cover. But because he (Mohammed) was in the space, I picked up two more shots. I covered him really, Smith told this newspaper.
Smith said that the gunman shot at the car until the magazine was empty. He suspects that the man was armed with an AK 47 rifle.
During this time, Smith was hit a total of three times while Winston sustained one gunshot wound. The quartet, he said, was praying aloud most of the time.
The man said that the place was dark and though he had on his high beam, it was hard to tell if the gunman’s face was concealed.
He said initially he saw one person but after the gunman ran out of bullets, someone else came over the car and fired two more shots with a hand gun and “at the same time all four of us were praying loudly and nobody got hit”.
A mystery
Yesterday Smith could not come up with a reason for the attack and dismissed it as a case of mistaken identity.
“They were just there to kill people that’s it”, he said, when asked if it could have been a robbery attempt.
According to him none of the gunmen came and demanded money or anything else from them. Smith further stressed that this was a route that they used every morning to go to their mosque to pray.
“This is just a mystery you know and that is the bottom of it, mistaken identity. I don’t have no problem with anyone”, the man said from his hospital bed.
Asked if anyone came by during the ordeal the man replied in the negative and later said that it was a resident whose back windscreen was shattered during the incident that took them to the hospital.
Two days have passed since and according to Smith, police are yet to take a statement from him. “I think that the police don’t care, I really think they don’t care.”
He however informed this newspaper that they visited him on Monday and after collecting a warhead that was taken out of his shoulder, they left.
Smith stated that the doctor has told him that he would not regain the full mobility of his arm as a result of the injury he sustained.
Why?
Yesterday Winston was still questioning why they were attacked. He like Smith believed that it was a case of mistaken identity.
He said that all his life he has used one route to get to the mosque and he never encountered a problem until now. According to him, he finds the entire episode strange.
Winston said that the police took a brief statement from him at the hospital but no one has contacted him since.
He had recounted a similar story when Stabroek News spoke with him on Sunday, hours after the incident.
The man recalled that he was sitting in the front passenger seat and immediately ducked and did not see anything except a spark on the bonnet of the car. He explained that as the gunmen let loose a fusillade on the car, Smith was unable to duck down as he had done since 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, following which a car pulled up and sped away with the gunmen, said to be three in number. According to reports they were armed with various weapons including a rapid fire gun. During the ordeal, Winston recalled that they called 911 several times but the number always rang out.
Police said in a statement that Smith and Winston 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.” Sixteen 7.62 x 39 and one .32 spent shells were found at the scene, the police added.
The truck that the gunman was hiding behind has since been removed.
