Three men were yesterday morning fatally shot by the police at the junction of Mandela Avenue and Industrial Estate Road, after the vehicle in which they were travelling was chased and stopped by the police.
Stabroek News
July 27, 2001
Up to press time, the police had not positively identified the dead men. However, the relatives of one of the men identified him as Steve Grant also known as Steve Robertson of Hadfield Street and 61 Bent Street, Wortmanville. The two others have only been identified by the nicknames `Chinee' and `Doggie'.
According to reports, the driver fled the scene in the car after the police removed the three passengers at gunpoint. Police are said to be looking for the vehicle.
A press release from the police yesterday stated that the men were shot during a confrontation with ranks, who were attempting to stop the vehicle they were in.
According to the release, the police party on patrol in the industrial site area, observed a vehicle with partially obscured number plates overlaid with cardboard. It said that as the ranks were attempting to stop it, three men jumped out and fired shots at them causing them to take evasive action.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene yesterday morning a large crowd, some stunned by the events that had transpired earlier, looked on as policemen placed the bodies in a van. The bodies were taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where the men were pronounced dead on arrival.
At the scene, pools of blood were visible where the three bodies had lain. Witnesses on the scene recalled seeing the police chasing the vehicle and forcing it to stop a short distance from the Mandela Road junction, where the three men were ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint.
The eyewitnesses said that the driver of the car was urged to drive away from the scene. But they deduced that heavily armed policemen could have easily detained the driver and vehicle.
The eyewitnesses claimed that one of the men retreated near to a stall on the western side of the road, where he was body-searched and a gun retrieved from under his shirt. He was then shot at point blank range. His colleagues, who were ordered to lie on their stomachs in the middle of the road were shot in their backs. According to the witness, the police recovered weapons from their persons and from a bag, which was believed to have been in the possession of the men.
This was confirmed by the police release which stated that police on the scene recovered, one Beretta submachine gun with a magazine containing 32 rounds live ammunition; one Browning 9 mm pistol with seven rounds of ammunition in the magazine; and a .32 Taurus revolver with three rounds. Other items said to have been recovered during the operation, included surgical gloves, two hammers, two stocking masks, wigs and several items of clothing.