An East Canje Berbice pump attendant was left critically injured on Friday after he was shot during a robbery at a gas station located along Main Road, New Amsterdam.
Yadram Rooney, also known as ‘Ronny’, 42, of Number Two Village, East Canje Berbice, was shot twice in the attack—once to his neck and to his back—at the M. Ali and Son Service Station.
Region Six Commander Superintendent Boodnarine Persaud said that based on CCTV footage, the police were able to retrieve an image of the lone perpetrator.
As of yesterday afternoon three persons had been arrested for questioning, while Rooney was transferred from New Amsterdam to the Georgetown Public Hospital for treatment. He was in critical condition up to press time.
According to the Commander, while surveillance footage shows the perpetrator making good his escape on foot, the police had received information indicating that he was picked up by another person on a motorcycle a short distance away.
Meanwhile, eyewitness Rondell McGarrell, another pump attendant at the gas station, said Rooney had worked the night shift and was getting ready to head home when he was attacked.
McGarrell said, “He (bandit) try to grab the bag and the bag fall down and when he see the man na give he the bag he pull out the gun and he fire.”
Initially, the pump attendants were unsure whether the perpetrator was able to retrieve the bag but based on CCTV footage after Rooney was shot the perpetrator grabbed the bag from the ground and then made good his escape.
Stabroek News was told that the bag contained just over $600,000 in cash.
In September, 2020, another pump attendant was shot at the said location during a robbery. Shazam Melville, 32, a father of four, was rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital after he was shot in his lower back then.
During that robbery, Rooney, had explained that he was dealing with a customer when Melville, who worked a 24-hour shift, took cash from a safe and placed it into a haversack in order to take it to the main office as they would normally do.
“When he come out with the bag from the door, he was collecting his book from the table when two boy ride up on a motorcycle and them tell he ‘Pass the bag, pass the bag’”, he had said.
Rooney said at first he thought they were friends of Melville making a joke with him but it was only after one of the perpetrators pulled out a gun that he realized that they were being robbed.
