A suspect was yesterday arrested over the murder of 10-year-old Anthony Cort, who was shot dead by a bandit during a robbery in Sophia on Thursday.
When contacted, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News that one of the suspects was arrested yesterday during a raid conducted by police. Blanhum said that the police are still looking for the other suspect.
Two men carried out the attack on Thursday at Packet Corner, ‘C’ Field, Sophia, where Cort was fatally shot while visiting a friend’s home.
Cort and his mother, Denise McPherson, were at the Lot 614 Packet Corner home of businesswoman Monette Famey when two men wearing face masks and armed with handguns stormed in. The police said at the time of the invasion, Cort was in the upper flat of the house along with Famey’s son, while Famey herself, her aunt, Ena Skerette, who is a pensioner and McPherson were in the bottom flat.
According to the police, the bandits held the women in the bottom flat at gun-point and relieved them of their valuables before ordering them to go to the upper flat to retrieve more valuables and money. However, according to McPherson and Famey, they told the men that there was no more money or valuables in the upper flat. But the men did not believe. When the women were contacted by this newspaper on Thursday, they related that even though they followed the instructions, they kept insisting that there were no more valuables in the shop or the house. But the bandits did not believe and
that while in the upper flat of the house, the child exited one of the rooms which he had been playing in and it was then that one of the bandits discharged a round which hit the boy in his left shoulder. Emergency Medical Technicians responded and pronounced Cort dead. His body was taken to the Lyken Funeral Parlour to await an autopsy, which is expected to be performed on Monday.
It was reported by the victims that the bandits escaped by running through the back door and jumping the back fence.
Meanwhile, both the government and the opposition reached out to Cort’s grieving family yesterday.
According to a post on the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s Facebook page, during her visit, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr Vindhya Persaud offered words of comfort to Cort’s parents and condolences on behalf of the government. She also extended the ministry’s support to the family during this difficult time. It was also stated that the deceased boy’s father expressed his pain at losing his son and urged that parents “question where their children acquire things that they don’t work for.” He also implored for “the substance abuse, which is driving crime among youngsters, to stop,” the Ministry’s post said.
The Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon, led a delegation that included Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones and Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir to visit the family. Harmon expressed his deepest condolence on behalf of all Members of Parliament and the APNU+AFC to the family.
