A presidential guard was yesterday shot after he apparently stopped to assist a victim of an armed robbery; a man has been arrested in connection with the incident.
Ransford Liverpool, 30, of Sophia is now a patient of the Georgetown Public Hospital nursing gunshot wounds after he came under a volley of bullets near the junction of Avenue of Republic and North Road.
The shooting came minutes after a woman, who was in the same area, had been relieved of a quantity of cash and documents by three men, one of whom was armed with a handgun.
According to a police release, at about 4:40 pm yesterday, businesswoman Jennifer Mohamed, 47, was walking along Avenue of Republic heading to her parked motor vehicle when she was confronted by the three men.
“The men, who came up on bicycles, demanded a bag that she had in her possession containing over $2 million and some documents… which she handed over to them,” the release said.
According to the police, Liverpool, who was passing at the same time on his motorcycle CD 6459, witnessed what was happening and decided to render assistance. There was an exchange of gunfire, during which he was injured. The men fled the scene on foot leaving their bicycles behind. A man has since been arrested and is in custody assisting with the investigations, the release said.
An eyewitness said she was in the vicinity of Regent Street and Avenue of Republic when she heard rapid gunfire.
She said when she looked across to the direction where the shots were coming from, she saw a bloody man with a gun in his hand waving at traffic seeking assistance.
According to her, several vehicles passed before one stopped to offer help to the injured man.
Another eyewitness told this newspaper that Liverpool had stopped his motorcycle on Avenue of Republic when she heard rapid gunfire.
She said she was unsure of what happened after, since when she heard the sound of bullets, she ducked for safety.
Liverpool, who holds the rank of sergeant in the Guyana Police Force, was shot to his left side face and upper right thigh.
A police source disclosed that the bullet had passed through the man’s thigh but there was still one lodged in his face. Liverpool was undergoing surgery up to late last night.
As news of the shooting spread, some of the man’s colleagues as well as his relatives gathered at the hospital. Last evening, a relative at the hospital told this newspaper that Liverpool was in a stable condition.
Meanwhile, when Stabroek News visited the scene, police ranks were conducting investigations. On the scene were Liverpool’s parked motorcycle and two bicycles lying on the ground.
