Three suspects have been held following the failed robbery at Sterling Products Limited (SPL) on Monday that left a security guard dead and another employee wounded, while company Chief Executive Officer Ramsay Ali says security has since been reviewed.
After fatally shooting security guard Wilfred Stewart, 45, and wounding Mario Gohill, 31, an Indian national working as a chemist, the invading bandits managed to make their way to the accounts department at the SPL Providence complex, where they were met with a locked safe. The men subsequently fled in a waiting car.
Ali told Stabroek News that the bandits, who wore masks, did not succeed in robbing the company since the money was secured.
Noting his sadness at Stewart’s death, he disclosed that the company has since held meetings with the security team in an effort to tighten its security against similar occurrences in the future.
While Ali said that ranks at the Providence Police Station, which is just a short distance away from the company, arrived within minutes of the attack, Stabroek News learnt that they were tipped off after a worker managed to flee the complex.
A source told this newspaper that the employee, who worked in the accounts department, made a run for it after realising what was happening. The source said that the employee ran towards the southern side of the building and exited over a fence and alerted persons at the nearby Rubis Gas Station, who rushed him to the nearby police station.
That source added that one of the five bandits who carried out the attack had taken away Stewart’s weapon and shot him after he tried to prevent their efforts to proceed to the area where the money was kept.
Furthermore, the source said that the masked men stormed into the room where the money was kept and, after assaulting a female employee because the safe was locked, then aborted their plans and made good their escape in the awaiting car.
Meanwhile, Police Crime Chief Leslie James last evening confirmed that three suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack.
Gohill, who was shot in the left leg, is now a patient at a city hospital.
Security revisions
Although witness accounts said the attack was carried out by as many as 10 men, police yesterday said that it was three men with guns who entered the SPL compound at 6:45pm on Monday evening.
“Dem men dem jus’ buss the gate and start shooting,” an eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous, had told Stabroek News after the attack on Monday. The witness recounted that the men entered the front gate of the business and quickly dealt with Stewart. They then proceeded to the eastern building in the compound, reportedly in search of the accounts department.
When Stabroek News asked about the ability of the bandits to bypass the security gate, Ali said the attack caused the company to review its security.
He said that all day yesterday he was meeting with the security team and discussed ways of better securing the premises. Furthermore, he added that improvements will also be made to the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.
In relation to the response of police, he said that ranks from the Providence Police Station arrived in minutes and that he was satisfied with the police response.
Ali said that he would not jump to the conclusion that the attack could have been the result of an inside job. He qualified that opinion by stating that persons enter the premises daily to conduct business and someone could have been eyeing the daily movement of the operations.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Association of Private Security Organisations (GAPSO), in a press statement urged police investigators to, obtain satisfactory answers to the questions surrounding the facts and circumstances of the shooting, which they believe will help to ensure a similar act is not committed against another security officer.
The release stated that GAPSO will continue to provide all the necessary resources to ensure that security officers get the job done, while investing in training to prepare those on the front line for potentially deadly situation.
Furthermore, GAPSO expressed its sadness at the killing of Stewart, which it labelled “senseless and cowardly.”
It added that its members’ thoughts and hearts are with Stewart’s wife, two children and his family and friends.
This newspaper was reliably informed that employees, including the assaulted female, all met with counsellors yesterday as they were still in a state of shock at the attack.
The dead man’s sister, Judy Stewart, described him as a very quiet and family-oriented person who was loved and known to the entire community. She said in spite of his quiet nature, he was jovial and would tease her whenever he visited, which was often.
She added that she last saw him on Monday December 8, just over an hour before the attack.
Stewart is survived by his heavily pregnant reputed wife, their two daughters, his parents and siblings.
