Shot cop succumbs
Stabroek News
May 29, 2002
Twenty-six-year-old police constable, Sherwin Alleyne, one of the four police officers who came under gunfire last Saturday night, succumbed on Monday night to the wounds he sustained.
Alleyne, who was said to have been shot in the leg and chest and suffered a compound fracture to his left femur, was initially in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) but was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit on Monday afternoon. He died some time after.
The constable, who hailed from Angoy's Avenue, New Amsterdam, had joined the force in 2000. He and his colleagues, Corporal Ray Gyness, 41, and constables Ravi Outar, 24, and Marlon Cruickshank, 21, all of `C' Division came under gunfire on Saturday evening when they were investigating the presence of a suspicious vehicle at the back of Coldingen, East Coast Demerara.
A police release had stated that the ranks were investigating the movement of a vehicle approaching a dam, not associated with vehicular traffic. According to the release as the ranks approached a pump on the lonely dam the two gunmen, who were standing on the dam, opened fire on them. The vehicle in which the officers were travelling, PEE 3286, was set ablaze by the gunfire.
Residents in the area had told this newspaper that the officers visited just before the shooting and told them there were reports that bandits were in the area. The residents said they had noticed a strange vehicle in the vicinity, which they confirmed was unusual, since many vehicles did not traverse the area mainly because of the state of the road.
The residents had said that the gunmen were lying in wait for the officers and as they were about to go back to their vehicle, opened fire.
A release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said that the armed men "ambushed" the police vehicle and opened fire on them. In the release Minister of Home Affairs, Ronald Gajraj, extended sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of the slain officer.
The release said that the minister, noting the growing disrespect for members of the police force, assured that every effort will be made to apprehend those responsible for Alleyne's murder.
According to the release, early reports suggested that members of the February 23, gang of five prison escapees might be responsible. On Sunday, residents had said that the officers had stated that there were reports of the bandits being in the area and they understood the officers to mean, Troy Dick, Andrew Douglas, Shawn Brown, Mark Fraser and Dale Moore, who escaped from prison and are said to be armed and dangerous.
Alleyne is the third police officer to be killed since the jailbreak. Superintendent Leon Fraser, who was a member of the Target Special Squad, was the first officer to die when he along with other ranks had approached an area in Soesdyke where the escapees were said to have been hiding. It was said that as Fraser and other officers approached a car, which was covered with branches they came under gunfire and he was fatally shot. Shortly after, Corporal Harry Kooseram was shot and killed by a gunman a few minutes after he left his Bladen Hall home for his place of employment at the Vigilance Police Station. There has also been a spate of armed robberies and murders since the five escaped.
Meanwhile, the three other officers are said to be in stable condition at the hospital. The police are continuing their investigations.