A 35-year-old Bagotstown man is nursing a gunshot wound after he was shot while standing on a street in the community with his friends on Saturday evening.
Uwesa Benjamin, of Norton Street, Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara was treated at the hospital for a gunshot injury to his right hand and sent away.
He and his friends were standing on Norton Street in Bagotstown when shots were fired indiscriminately. Police, in a press release, said that at around 8:50 pm on Saturday, a man armed with a gun discharged shots indiscriminately on that street. Benjamin sustained a gunshot wound to his right hand. No one has yet been arrested and investigations are in progress.
“I just turn back to buy a beer while I was sitting with a friend gaffing and I just see shots start firing. I didn’t see is who neither I don’t know is who,” Benjamin related to Stabroek News yesterday. He said that the bullet has been removed and he is not bothering about anything since the main thing is that he is alive. He furthered noted that it was rather unfortunate for him as the shots were not aimed but fired randomly.
Stabroek News was told that the men were all armed with guns and are well known individuals in the village. However, according to a source, although many persons in the village may know who the men are, they are afraid to speak out.
A villager who preferred not to be named related to Stabroek News what he witnessed.
The man said that he was liming with some friends including Benjamin on Norton Street, something which is a normal Saturday night routine, and when he looked up the road he saw three men, armed with guns approaching them.
He recalled that he started to run and heard shots and Benjamin who was standing right next to him, was hit. “Is about 20 shots them man fire in all I average.” he noted. The man expressed concern saying that such incidents are frequent and are being carried out by well-known individuals.
He said that it is time for those who know these men and are not taking it seriously, to speak out instead of waiting for worst to happen.
Stabroek News was informed that the incident lasted for about ten minutes after which the men brazenly walked away.
