A Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice youth was fatally shot last night as violent protests that gripped the area earlier in the day continued and another teenager was also critically injured but was unable to be transported to the hospital in Georgetown for further medical care due to the roads being blocked by protesters.
Dead is Devon Hansraj, of Cotton Tree Village. He was said to be 19 years old. Residents said that he sustained one gunshot injury. According to information obtained by Stabroek News, police ranks opened fire at the Cotton Tree Village and Bush Lot Village protests after protesters persistently attacked them with missiles in the form of glass bottles.
Stabroek News was told that Hansraj was shot during the Cotton Tree protest and was rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he succumbed.
Jevaughn Stephen, the Director of Regional Health Services, who was present at the New Amsterdam hospital last evening, confirmed that Hansraj had died.
He related that the relatives of the deceased arrived at the hospital allegedly armed with cutlasses and other weapons.
Persons, who were present at the hospital, said the relatives began to threaten the medical professionals, which led to the police being summoned. The relatives reportedly become aggravated after they noticed police from the protest were being treated at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital.
Police Commander Calvin Brutus last evening confirmed that they responded to a call at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital and three persons were arrested. He said that one is a licenced firearm holder, while another was found with a cutlass.
Meanwhile, the parents of 19-year-old, Annuradha Sukra were pleading for assistance to have their daughter transferred from the Fort Wellington Hospital to the Georgetown Hospital last evening.
Sukra sustained injuries during the Bush Lot Village protest.
However, her mother Jayshree last evening claimed that they were walking out of their street in Bush Lot Village, when her daughter started to record the protest. She said someone pelted a police rank, who turned around and opened fire and her daughter was injured.
Sukra sustained injuries to head, chest and legs. “She need surgery. She get pellets in her head and eight in her intestine,” her mother said.
However, the woman said that the hospital, as of last evening, was afraid to transfer her daughter due to the protests on the roadways. “Them a send me and my husband to find out if the protest clear,” she said.
Jayshree pleaded for the police to escort the ambulance to the Georgetown Public Hospital so that her daughter could get the necessary medical attention.
Additionally, last evening three ranks based on the West Coast Berbice were rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital after being injured. Stabroek News confirmed that the ranks, who sustained injuries about their bodies, were not in a critical condition.
