The gang members comprising present and past students of the same Linden Foundation Secondary as well as others with no affiliation to the school converged at the institution on Wednesday afternoon shortly before dismissal time. They were armed with batons, machetes and pieces of wood.
Relating the incident to this newspaper, one of the students who was beaten said that he had just left the school compound when he noticed a group of boys and men approaching the school gate.
“Some friends came and told me that they coming fuh beat me but I didn’t bother with them because I didn’t have no problem with nobody so I continued to walk,” the student related.
He said that he was forced to run when he realized that the group was targeting him. “I started to run after I see dem coming straight to me. I run up the road and through some tracks but I couldn’t escape them.”
When the gang caught up with him they dealt him several blows on the back with a three-point spear and on the left hand with a baton. The student said that he managed to make his way back to the school where he was protected by teachers until the police arrived.
The student said that a few days earlier one of the boys in the gang had lashed his sister in her face with a bag and her assailant had sent a message with his friends for him to come and fight. He said that he did not comply.
The child’s mother said that her son was a regular target of the gang which in the past had beaten him in the head with a piece of wood which was spiked with a number of nails.
The other student who was caught in the attack said that he had just walked through the school gate when he noticed the gang. As he was about to cross the road he was told that a boy had brought his father to confront him. “I walk away and while I was crossing the road the boy father ride past me and a boy told him that I was one of them. The man grabbed me by the shirt and warned me not to hit his son. I told him the truth that I don’t hit his son,” recounted the student.
The student said that he became very concerned for his friend who he suspected was the real target of the gang. He then decided to rush to the home of his friend. “I go deh to see if me friend was home and if anything happen to he because I was afraid that dem beat he up or do he something bad,” he said.
As he was about to leave his friend’s yard one of the gang members lashed him on the left side of his face in the region of his temple with a piece of wood. He said he ran back to the school to be protected by his teachers.
When police from the Mackenzie Police Station arrived on the scene the gang members had already left. The parents of the students who were attacked rushed to the scene also. Meanwhile, the students were taken to the Mackenzie Police Station where they gave statements and were then taken to the Linden Hospital Complex where they were treated and sent home.
Stabroek News understands that a few days prior to Wednesday’s incident a male student of the school who was seen among the armed gang was stabbed in the region of his neck with a pen by a female student. The outcome of this incident could not be confirmed.
“Pure madness”
Prior to the arrival of the police, several persons who witnessed the incident described the scene as ‘madness’. One teacher said that she was forced to remain in the compound when she realized that the known gang members were out for trouble. She said that they were running up and down the street armed with cutlasses, machetes, spears and pieces of wood.
“It was pure madness out here yesterday (Wednesday). Everybody was running for cover because they realized that something serious was definitely going to happen,” she said. It is understood that even the guard at the gate ran for cover at one point but the gang didn’t enter the school compound.
Efforts to contact the Regional Education Officer and the School Welfare Officers proved futile as they were said to have been out in the field. However Stabroek News understands that the Welfare Department was not informed of the incident at the school until yesterday.
A resident of the area said that the gang which was started by a deportee who resides in the area has been creating mayhem in the community. He said that the gang is rapidly growing and has been infiltrating the school while eluding the police.
