A Melanie Damishana labourer was in critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) up to last night after he was shot by police, who have since launched a probe into the shooting.
The wounded man has been identified as Charles Peters, 36, a father of two of Lot 184 Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara. He was shot twice and his family said that they were told that one of his hands will have to be amputated due to the injuries he sustained.
Police say that Peters was observed running on the road and acting in a suspicious manner. As a result, they stopped to challenge him and it is being alleged that he attacked a police rank, resulting in him being shot.
This newspaper was told that the Guyana Police Force’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is conducting an investigation into the shooting.
Members of Peter’s family said yesterday afternoon that they were still awaiting details of the circumstances under which he was shot.
They said he was taken to the operating theatre at the GPH for emergency surgery late yesterday afternoon and they were informed by doctors that the gunshot injury Peters sustained to one of his hands will result in it being amputated.
“I don’t know is what kind gun they shoot he with but they said they will have to cut he hand out,” his niece, Natasha Caesar, told this newspaper.
“I wasn’t there but I hear when they go after he, people in the area telling them not to shoot he, they know he from around the area, but they still shoot he,” she said.
Caesar explained that while she was not present when the shooting took place, residents related that Peters surrendered after being pursued by the police but was still shot. “I hear he surrender and when they did patting he down he keep telling them he is not a thief and they shot him to his leg. They say he jump in a trench and then the police shoot he again to his arm,” she added.
The woman said that she learnt of the incident after receiving a call from a friend. “A friend see and she call and tell me police got Charlie and they patting he down and throw he in the vehicle,” Caesar said.
As a result, she said she immediately left her home and went to her mother’s house, where she told her cousins and sister of what she had learned. “My cousin show me a picture on her phone and tell me, ‘Look is Uncle Charlie,’” she said,
Caesar said she then made contact with a friend at Cove and John, who confirmed that Peters was taken to the hospital. She said she and other relatives rushed to the hospital, where they saw Peters in an unconscious condition. “We hear the police take him there but when we reach there is not like it had anybody there to tell we what went on,” the woman added.
Peters, according to his family, does odd jobs around the Dochfour community. “He does clean trench and pick coconut and sell and so,” Caesar said.
