The body of Paul Peters was pulled from the Laing Avenue canal yesterday morning bearing a gunshot wound and according to reports he was part of a gang which police were hunting on Boxing Day.
Reports are that police were chasing three men on Boxing Day and they ended up pursuing Peters after he fled in the direction of Laing Avenue. Gunshots rang out but it is unclear whether there was an exchange of fire. Peters is said to have jumped into the canal to escape and his body was spotted yesterday around 7:30 am.
Peters, called ‘Paulie boy,’ 20, of 37 East Front Road, was released from prison in January after serving time for armed robbery. His brother, Orton McPherson told Stabroek News that the family was told that Peters had a “flingings with police” on Sunday but they are unclear about the circumstances.
McPherson said he was among the relatives who identified Peters at the Lyken Funeral Home and according to him, “he look like he get beat too.” He said his brother’s face was bashed in and the body bore a gunshot wound in the back. “I ain’t like how he face look, is like deh beat he up before shooting he,” McPherson said, fighting back tears. He added that his younger brother left home on Sunday afternoon and did not return home that night; the family started asking questions on Monday.
McPherson recalled that he caught up with a few of Peters’ friends and questioned them about his brother. It was at that point he was told that the police had chased Peters and two of the friends on Sunday night and while the two managed to escape, his brother was pursued. Still, the family had no additional information to go on and they continued searching for him.
McPherson, who works at the cemetery, said he received a message about his brother being found at the canal at Laing Avenue but when he got there the body had been removed. He turned up at the funeral home and later identified his brother. “We ain’t really know wha happen…we hear how he had a flingings with de police but duh is it, we ain’t really now is wha go on until now,” he said.
However, residents recounted that police were seen chasing three men who were standing at the head of Laing Avenue on Sunday night sometime between 8pm and 9 pm. Two of the men fled in an eastern direction while Peters ran into Laing Avenue.
An eye-witness said he had no information on whether the men returned fired, but recalled that several shots rang out before a fleeing Peters was spotted running along Laing Avenue. He said that Peters jumped into the canal and an officer ran after him and fired two shots. Residents believed that the man had escaped when the police left the area. According to the eye-witness, there were reports in the area that police were hunting three men who had robbed a gas station on Mandela Avenue shortly before the incident with Peters. Lloyd Peters, the dead man’s father, said his son was not employed but that he helped him out with his horse-cart business. He said that Paul would get into trouble occasionally, but concluded that “it happens with these youths today.” The man said that he did not receive any information as to why his son was being chased, adding that it could have been anything.
The elder Peters disclosed that his son was released from prison in January this year after serving time for armed robbery. He said that Paul had been fingered in a previous gas station robbery and had served some time before being cleared of the charge.
