The police are at a dead end in their investigations into the killing of Vive la Force, West Bank Demerara teenager, Ryan Persaud after the “part of the warhead” recovered from his body did not have the required marking for a comparison, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said.
“It looks like we are reaching a dead end”,
he said when contacted for an update yesterday.
During the post-mortem examination an object which the crime chief had described as a component of a warhead was recovered. He had said that it would be sent for testing.
Yesterday the crime chief explained that what they had was the inner part of the warhead. He said that they didn’t have the outer part which would have markings which could have been used for comparison purposes. He said the outer part that they need has not been found.
Persaud opined that the warhead first hit something and a small part came off and struck the teen. The child was hit in the back by what residents had described as a stray bullet last Monday.
He said that contrary to what the child’s father Vishnu had told Stabroek News no one is in police custody.
Asked if the hands of those arrested were swabbed for gunpowder residue, he responded in the affirmative. He explained too that a firearm was found among those detained but that weapon did not have the capacity to shoot over such a long distance. Persaud explained that the component removed from the child, and the calibre of the weapon found, do not match.
He explained that the component came from a 7.62 calibre bullet.
It is suspected that someone fired a weapon from a boat which was moored on the Demerara River. The river is located behind the child’s home. Security sources say that there are many weapons including the M82, M15 and M16 which could fire bullets which will travel for more than half a mile. More so just two weeks before the killing, a bullet had struck the child’s home. It is believe that both bullets came from the same weapon.
The teen’s parents who still live in fear that they will be struck by more bullets, said that while they blame the police for their loss they have forgiven them. The police have been accused of being negligent. Residents said that shots were being fired from boats moored behind the community over a two-year period. They said that they had made repeated reports to police but ranks never came to investigate. Less than two hours before Persaud was killed, a report was again made at the Wales Police Station.
Security observers say it is shocking that high-powered weaponry could be fired from the river and in this case killing someone. The observers say that it requires the fullest possible investigation by the police and the maritime authorities.
