The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is yet to arrest the man who assisted the now-dead bandit, Melroy Solomon, in a carjacking as well as the abduction of a farmer from Perth, Mahaicony on Thursday.
Around 10.30 am, the two men had hijacked a car from Vick’s Taxi Service in Foulis, East Coast Demerara and escaped to Perth, where they abandoned the vehicle. Solomon and the other man then abducted a farmer, first robbing the man of his clothes, before having him take them out of the back lands on horseback.
After they were escorted by the farmer to the road, they boarded a taxi and were confronted by the police while exiting the village. Solomon reportedly opened fire at the police and was fatally shot during the exchange, while his accomplice managed to escape.
Speaking to this newspaper on Friday, Commander of ‘C’ Division, Calvin Brutus, related that they were unable to arrest the second man.
The proprietor of the taxi service, Vick Ram, also spoke to this publication on Friday, and gave a more detailed description of the event that led to the bandit’s death.
According to Ram, his service received a call from one of the men around 10.30am, requesting a taxi to pick him up in Haslington and which was to be bound for Golden Grove. After the car picked him up, Solomon ordered the driver to stop at the entrance of a gym in Haslington to pick up his colleague. After that, the duo reportedly told the driver that they had to uplift something from 8th Street, Haslington.
However, before the man could reach the street, the duo requested that he turn into 7th Street and he complied. After the driver turned into the street, the men stopped him and Solomon, who was seated in front, armed himself with a gun and told the driver to hand over his money.
“He [the driver] told them that the money in the car and they check and find it and then they tell he to come out and he said he not coming out and then the one at the back punched him to his head and the other one crank the gun and that’s when he run out. When they going to reverse the driver said that they burn the tyre and almost knock another car while racing out of the village,” Ram relayed.
Afterward, the driver was able to ask a resident for a call and phoned the base to tell them what had transpired. The base then contacted the police, who eventually set up several road blocks along the corridors in hopes of stopping the men.
“By that time, one of the our other car[s] was up Hope and he said he just see the car speed pass cause he heard what happened over the radio and he follow the car but he go till to Mahaica and lose them because they would’ve probably heard us over the radio in the car too,” Ram said, while explaining that he had subsequently left with the driver who was robbed to go make a report at the Ann’s Grove Police Station, when he was alerted that another one of their drivers had gone up to Mahaicony to check to see if the bandits were there.
“…He said he see a garbage truck and ask if they see the car speeding going up and they said yes. When he reach Perseverance, he saw a police road block and ask if they see them and they said they out there for that and he turn back and decide to go through Branch Road and he ask around and the people said the car gone in there. He follow them and by the time he get there he said he saw two police patrols rushing in and they found the car in a ditch and bring it out,” Ram said.
Shortly after, the situation escalated between the bandits and the police, which resulted in the fatal exchange.
Ram explained that the driver is currently still traumatised and the car has been “practically totalled” since it sustained severe damage during a high speed chase, including several bullet holes, broken windows and a damaged dashboard.
