With UK ballistics expert Dr Mark Robinson last week telling the Linden Commission of Inquiry that the ammunition retrieved from the bodies of the three men killed at Linden on July 18 did not match what is used by the police force, questions remain about the origin of the fatal shots.
In his testimony last week, Robinson had identified two shotguns when shown a photograph of police ranks in line formation at Linden on July 18 and said that the shotguns seen are capable of firing 00 buckshot. He had identified the bullets retrieved from the bodies of the three slain Lindeners as 00 buckshot.
“They were all 00 buck[shot] by size and weight but the exhibits recovered from the deceased and injured parties were pellets which had been coated with a light coating of copper, so there is a distinctive copper finish to these pellets whereas the pellets in the round of police ammunition was simply lead. So, I would regard these to be distinguishable from each other,” Robinson, a Forensic Scientist of 25 years, testified. (Stabroek News had previously incorrectly reported that the ammunition had not been used by police since 2005.)
Robinson had said that he was provided with a compactor shotgun, which he was told was standard police issue. “I had a look at the shotgun just to familiarise myself with weapons of that type that may have been involved. I was provided with a total of three rounds of ammunition, two of which I was informed are in current police use and the third cartridge I was told had not been used since 2005. One of the cartridges contained number 4 shots and the second cartridge contained number 6 shots, these are both small pellets and then the third cartridge contained 00 buck pellets but of a different type to those in question,” he had explained.
Robinson said he conducted his tests at the ballistics section at the Guyana Police Force headquarters in Georgetown, after which he compiled a report. “Each of the items I examined comprised either complete or fragments of lead buckshot pellets. These are pellets which would have been contained within a shotgun cartridge.
It is not possible to give a calibre just from the examination of pellets but by far the most common calibre is 12-gauge and I’m certainly aware that a number of manufacturers make buckshot cartridges in 12-gauge. So, I’ve no reason to suspect that the calibre of gun used was anything but 12-gauge,” he had noted.
Asked whether the pellets retrieved were 00 buckshot pellets, Robinson said, “They were. Pellets can be characterized by size and weight and each of the pellets was measured and conforms to shot size called 00 buck.”
Robinson had also said that he does not believe that the pellets which were examined could be discharged from any other weapon than a shotgun. “I have considered this possibility; whether a weapon would be available to discharge a single buckshot pellet is not really an option unless one is to modify or manipulate, in some specialist way, another weapon. So, I will say, really, no. There is no other explanation… these were from a shotgun,” he had stated.
He added that the shotgun he was shown at the police station was approximately three feet long with an 18.5 inch barrel. “And in fact in the photographs we can see the officers holding full length shotguns which could be 3 to 4 feet long,” he said.
Commissioner KD Knight asked Robinson whether the shooter would have to be in close range for a number 6 buckshot to be lethal. “It is certainly true that if one considers delivering an immediate incapacitating shot, then one would need to be relatively close, perhaps 10 to 15 yards for such a shot,” he answered. He added that in the case of someone shooting at a range of 100 yards, the shooter would be lucky if one of the nine pellets would have struck the person because the pattern would have expanded to an extent.
The question of exactly how many ranks were in Linden at the time and the accounting for their weapons and ammunition has been raised.
Acting Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell said that there were two sets of ranks in Linden on July 18: 18 from the TSU in Georgetown and 14 from the Anti-Crime Unit based in Linden. All were armed with various types of weapons including a total of four shotguns, two of which were capable of firing pellets, he said.
Some members of the police were equipped with shotguns on that evening. Corporal Donald Harry, whose main duty is to issue and receive firearms and ammunition, had previously testified that the weapons used by the riot unit that was deployed to Linden on July 18 were not returned to the armoury until three days after the unit got back from Linden and four policemen had less ammunition than they had taken, but no explanation was given.
Harry had explained that Sergeant Junior left with ten 12-gauge cartridges and returned with seven, Constable Parker left with ten 12-gauge cartridges and returned with nine, Constable McBean left with 10 CS grenades and returned with six and Constable George left with 10 CS grenades and returned with five. According to Harry, Assistant
Superintendent of Police Patrick Todd, who led the squad, was informed of this but no explanation was given for the irregularities. Harry also noted that the weapons were returned three days after the ranks would have returned from Linden. When asked whether it is customary that the arms be immediately lodged upon return, Harry had responded in the affirmative and when further asked whether the delay between the return of the ranks and the lodging of the weapons was unusual, he admitted that it was.
Todd has said that his unit – the TSU – carried two 9 mm pistols, four .38 pistols, four FN rifles and four shotguns. Based on former divisional commander responsible for Linden, Senior Superintendent Clifton Hicken’s testimony, at least some of the ordinary ranks under his command were also armed, including with shotguns which were fired at some point that night.
Brumell also stated that ranks from the police force’s special branch were present at the time of the shooting and while he could not say if they were armed, the normal procedure is that undercover ranks most times will be armed but their weapons would not be visible to the public.
It was also pointed out to Brumell that in one of the police logs tendered as an exhibit, that the names of five officers who were recorded as leaving for Linden were not recorded in the property book. The commissioner said that there were some lines crossed through the names and the weapon numbers and it was later agreed that the person who made the entries would have to explain. He added that it appeared as if a mistake was made in relation to the crossed out numbers. He was asked to ascertain whether the weapons that were crossed out were sent for ballistics tests, while Hughes noted that “phantom names” were recorded in the book as being issued weapons but who had nowhere to go. Brumell agreed that it was not normal for persons to be issued weapons and not go anywhere.
Hicken said he requested the TSU to support the 40 other ranks on the ground. He had testified that the 40 ranks were not equipped to remove the crowd that had grown on the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge and were there to monitor the procession.
The commission is inquiring into the circumstances surrounding the shooting to death of Allan Lewis, Ron Somerset, and Shemroy Bouyea and the injury of several others near the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge on July 18, during a protest over the increase in electricity tariffs.
