A suspected bandit was fatally shot during the wee hours of yesterday morning by a security guard at a Queenstown, Georgetown hostel after robbing an arriving guest.
The dead man has been identified as Nigel Wellington, 35, of Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara.
Wellington was reportedly shot several times in the compound of the El Sol Hostel, located along Crown Street, Queens-town, around 4.30 am.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that Wellington was positively identified last evening by his mother, Pamela Wellington.
She reportedly told the police she last saw him about two months ago, when he visited her.
This newspaper has learnt that the attack took place soon after the robbery victim, a 33-year-old chef, exited a taxi and was about to enter the hostel.
He had just arrived from an airport and the guard was awaiting him since he was expected to check in at the hostel.
The Guyana Police Force said in a statement that after the chef exited the taxi, he was waiting for the security to open the door when he was attacked.
The bandit, the police added, demanded that the chef hand over his valuables. He refused and he was struck in his mouth before being relieved of his cellphone.
“At the same time, the door was opened and the bandit, who reportedly pointed his weapon at the armed security guard, was shot,” the police noted.
When Stabroek News visited the scene yesterday, blood stains were evident in the passageway leading to the hostel.
A man who was present on the premises related to this newspaper that neither the robbery victim nor the guard was around as both were with the police assisting with the investigation.
A neighbour, who wished not to be named, said he was asleep when he heard the shooting. “When you hear shots like duh yuh does duck underneath yuh bed,” the man said.
He said he later noticed the body lying in the passageway leading to the hostel. The police were also present in their numbers, he said.
The chef’s stolen cell phone was recovered at the scene.
Investigators, the police said, also retrieved an unlicensed pistol with a live round, which Wellington is suspected to have had in his possession.
He is known to the police.
In January last year, he was charged with three counts of armed robbery.
He had denied the charges and was remanded to prison.
In May 2016, he was also charged with robbing a woman, from whom he also allegedly demanded sexual favours.
