Police officers yesterday afternoon fired shots at a fleeing prisoner outside of the Camp Street prison, wounding him and a bystander and raising questions about the way they reacted.
Seconds before the shooting the prisoner, Marvin Williams, 24, of De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara had jumped out of a prison van that was parked at the entrance to the prison and started to run.
He was not wearing handcuffs at the time and eyewitnesses did not recall hearing any shouts for him to stop.
Williams along with the wounded civilian, Wayne Thompson, 25, were rushed to the Georgetown Hospital shortly after the 3 pm incident.
An eyewitness recalled that he was heading east along Camp Street when as he neared Bent Street, he heard a gunshot “fire off”. The man said that he saw a prisoner running in front of the prison with about three uniformed policemen in hot pursuit.
The man said that the prisoner then turned east into Bent Street and the ranks continued to chase the man firing at least two more shots.
Stabroek News was told by the eyewitness that when he arrived on Bent Street, he saw a prisoner on the ground with what appeared to be gunshot wounds.
Shortly after, someone informed ranks that a civilian had also been shot on Camp Street just over Bent Street.
He recalled that by this time a large crowd had gathered around the wounded prisoner and some of the curious persons left to see the injured civilian. The man recalled that a prison van later left the area with the wounded prisoner.
A woman who was near the area where Thompson was shot said that she heard two gunshots and when she rushed out she saw the man, who works at a nearby wholesale drinks establishment lying on the ground.
Meanwhile a senior police officer told Stabroek News that the shot prisoner was earlier in the day sentenced to three years in jail for trafficking in narcotics.
The officer explained that his handcuffs were being removed by a policeman outside the prison when he “push the police aside and started to run”.
The senior officer told this newspaper that ranks of the police patrol that had escorted the prison van then gave chase discharging three rounds.
Asked why the ranks opened fire on the unarmed man in board daylight, the officer said that there was enough distance between him and the chasing ranks, adding that the civilian who was struck was standing in the corner.
The officer could not say at what stage the handcuffs were removed before pointing out that he does not know the procedures of the prison when it comes to the handing over of prisoners.
Efforts to contact Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine for a comment were futile.
Situation
Several persons yesterday openly criticized the police for the way they handled the situation. “Anybody around this area gah be real careful cause dese people hey don’t follow no guidelines when they (the prison officers) doing anything”, one woman said.
When Stabroek News arrived at the hospital a small crowd had gathered and persons were heard discussing Williams’ brazen attempt to escape.
A worried looking young man was standing outside the emergency room, holding one of the injured civilian’s bloodied boots.
Williams meanwhile was lying on a stretcher in the emergency room waiting area, crying out in pain. He was handcuffed and several police officers were taking information from him. There were also several heavily armed policemen standing nearby.
Thompson was sitting in a wheelchair a short distance away and the shin area of his left foot where he sustained the gunshot wound was heavily bandaged.
Later while waiting for the foot to be x rayed, he recounted that he was sent on an errand and was standing opposite the National Insurance Scheme when the police started firing. He said that the first shot caught him in the foot after which he heard two more.
A small pool of blood started to accumulate under the injured man as this newspaper spoke to him.
A man who had accompanied the injured civilian questioned why the prisoner was not handcuffed before pointing out that shooting could have ended in disaster.
Up to last evening both men were still receiving treatment and their conditions were listed as stable.
