Armed bandits invaded a shop in Guyhoc Park last evening with the intention to rob but abandoned their plan and discharged rounds after customers began pelting them with bottles; in the end a 37-year-old man was killed and a suspected bandit shot and wounded.
Heron Dennis a father of two of Lot P 72 Samman Street, Guyhoc Park took his last breath on the floor of Fuzzy Variety Store located at Arapaima Street.
Police said in a press release said that around 19:30 hrs Dwayne Simon, 29, of McDoom, East Bank Demerara, and two other men, one of whom was armed with a firearm, entered Fuzzy Variety Store at Arapaima Street and held up three customers in the store including Dennis.
The customers began throwing missiles at the perpetrators, “whereupon the armed man began discharging rounds indiscriminately”. This, according to the police, resulted in Dennis being fatally shot to his neck and Simon being shot and injured to his back and right foot.
Simon is a patient under guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital. His accomplices managed to escape.
Stabroek News was told that the shop owner’s son was behind the counter when the gunmen entered. The young man, who was shaken by the incident, declined to speak to the media. His father is out of the country.
When this newspaper arrived at the scene, crime scene ranks were already there and a large crowd had gathered.
Neighbours recalled hearing four gunshots. “All we hear is pow, pow, pow, pow”, one neighbour said as he expressed horror at the incident and Dennis’ passing. Many said that the man who lived alone was too quiet a person to deserve such a brutal death.
Close friends of the man said that when they saw his body they counted three gunshot wounds – to his hand, chest and side. Loud wails erupted from inside the shop after they were shown the body and moments later undertakers from the Lyken’s Funeral Home came and removed it.
Relatives later removed his bicycle which was parked inside the shop.
A weeping Sharon Allen said that her best friend had only celebrated his birthday on Sunday. She said he left her home around 7 pm and half an hour later she got a message that he had been shot dead. She said that when he left he did not tell her where he was going but they were to meet up later to go and play dominoes with friends.
Allen said Dennis was a good friend who would do anything for her.
Persons close to the family said that the shop is always a target for bandits. It had been robbed at least twice before. Though the customer area is separated from where the items are by heavy grill work, bandits still make attempts to rob the shop.
A source close to the family said that after the bandits came “them man start pelting them with bottle and like them man turn back firing”. The source said that from all indications it was during the firing that the suspect, later identified as Simon, was shot. The bandits were the only ones armed.
The source said there was so much confusion in the shop that money and everything was left scattered inside. This newspaper was told that the young man who was selling behind the counter immediately ducked down after the confusion started.
From all indications after Simon was shot he attempted to flee but collapsed just outside the shop near an empty gas cylinder show case. He had been lying there for some when residents spotted him.
One onlooker said that residents began pelting him with bottles and beating him so that he could not get away. The spot where he collapsed was marked by blood and broken bottles. Stabroek News was told that about half an hour after the police came and collected him.
One woman said that the man was untidily dressed in a “house pants”, a black hooded coat and a bandana was tied around his foot. There are reports that at the time of the attempted robbery the three bandits were masked.
The two accomplices, residents say, escaped on foot in the direction of Festival City.
This newspaper was told that unsuspecting residents are usually pounced upon when walking along the dark streets in the community. One resident said that one popular spot is near the store as there is a lot of bush there.
