Witness beaten, residents tense
Stabroek News
April 30, 2002
The village of Friendship, East Coast Demerara (ECD) remained tense yesterday after yet another incident, this time directed towards a resident who witnessed last Friday's shooting, in which two wanted men were fingered.
According to reports, a young man who happened to be on the roadway during Friday's shooting incident was pistol-whipped in the head and subjected to other physical torture.
This incident, along with an increase in the frequency of vehicular traffic traversing Brush Dam, Friendship, in the vicinity of where Friday's shooting took place is causing panic and fright in the ECD community, a village leader said.
Repeated efforts by residents to contact police at the nearby Vigilance Police Station were said to have been futile. However, Stabroek News was told that when the young man eventually visited the Vigilance station, on seeing the extent of his injuries, the police issued a medical for him to see a doctor.
Since Friday's incident, which targeted Friendship resident, Brian Chester of 144 Brush Dam, more roads were said to have been cut severely restricting necessary emergency efforts and any prompt action by the police.
The situation in the area was said to be tense. Some residents said that their children, traumatized by the events, had been cowering under chairs for fear of being caught in the path of bullets.
Meanwhile, Chester's life has reportedly been threatened. Several individuals have gone to his Brush Dam home questioning his whereabouts, reports stated.
When contacted yesterday, Chester's mother said persons seemed to have gone mad and were taking things too far and away from the earlier objective, which directed attention to the 'Black Clothes' police, while not extending to the rest of the force.
She said she understood the police's reluctance at entering the village since there was only one remaining entrance/exit in the event they had to make a sudden retreat.
She said she was praying that the uneasiness came to a quick end to allow the community to return to normality.