Police shot and killed a robbery suspect during what was described as a late night shootout at Great Diamond Sea Dam, East Bank Demerara on Friday.
The dead man was yesterday identified as ‘Douglah’ of Plastic City, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara and Sophia. Police are currently looking for two men who managed to escape during the Friday night shooting.
According to a police press release issued yesterday, investigations are being conducted into the fatal shooting which occurred around 22:00 hrs where ‘Douglah’, “was fatally shot during an armed confrontation with the police”
The release said ‘Douglah’, who was in his early twenties, and two other men were wanted for questioning by the police in relation to an armed robbery committed on Rambharose Ramjewan and his family at their home at Best Village, WCD, on November 19. During that incident the victims were awakened from their sleep by noise in the home and on checking were confronted by the men who had entered the building after removing some louvre windows. Three men armed with a firearm, a hammer and a length of metal, robbed them of $1 million, US$2,000, jewellery, a laptop computer and a cell phone.
Police said yesterday that acting on information received they went to a house at Great Diamond Sea Dam where they came under fire. The ranks returned fire during which ‘Douglah’ was shot.
Two other men who were with him managed to escape among the bushes. Police did not say yesterday if the two men who escaped were suspects in the robbery.
A .32 pistol with 13 matching rounds, six 9 mm rounds, two ski-masks, a pair of rubber gloves, two screw-drivers, a pair of pliers and a crescent spanner, according to the release were recovered at the scene by the police.
The body of ‘Douglah’ is at the Georgetown Hospital mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Stabroek News was unable to make contact with the man’s relatives during a visit to the Plastic City area. A resident who said he was living there for “many years” told this newspaper that he knew no one by that call name. No one in the area recalled hearing about any resident being killed by police recently.
Meanwhile, a resident of Great Diamond recalled seeing two van loads of police entering the area around 10 pm, but she said she went home shortly after that. She did not hear anything about the incident until yesterday morning.
Another resident recalled hearing one gunshot “between sleep and wake”, but did not venture outside to investigate its origin. She later learnt that police had killed a man on the sea dam where five shabby looking structures are located.
The woman said she had did not notice any strange persons recently, explaining that many people use a track leading to the sea dam to access a stelling where they get boats to Wales. Persons coming from Wales also disembark at the stelling. According to residents using the track near the sea dam was easier to get to the stelling.
This newspaper was told that the dead man was known as ‘Andrew’ by the residents. He and his two friends left the area for the interior about five months ago. They returned about three days ago and took up residence in one of the structures where a woman and her small children reside.
The area where the houses are located is surrounded by bush. Residents there receive electricity and get their water supply from a single pipe.
