The gang escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash around 20:45 hrs after attacking the shops with heavy gunfire that lasted for almost 15 minutes, witnesses said.

Dead are Leonard Parjohn, 32, proprietor of `Steven's Beer Garden' and Carlton Norton, 22, of 17 Broad and Lyng streets, Charlestown.

Those wounded are Jeffrey Layne, 36, a Policeman of 568 West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme; Sharon Reis, 28, of 37 Ketley Street; Adrian Reid, 27, of 338 West Ruimveldt; Tamika Joseph, no address given; Kanchan Ragbandan, 49, Lot `D' Hogg Street, Albouystown; Sunil Dass, Lot 78 Pike Street, Kitty and Patsy Samaroo 48, of Lot 35 Howes Street.

Witnesses said they recognised two of the bandits as notorious Mash Day prison escapee, Shawn Brown, and Romell Reman for whom the Police have issued a wanted bulletin.

A resident said he was in his yard when he observed a dark coloured car approaching from the northern direction and gunmen suddenly jumped from the vehicle and began shooting at the two business places.

The man said he retreated further into his yard and hid.

The driver of the Toyota Ceres taxi, licence number HA 9913, which was left abandoned at the scene by the bandits, said that shortly before the attack, he was approached by a neatly dressed man requesting to be taken to Norton Street.

The driver, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that on reaching Norton Street the man placed a gun to his head and ordered that he continue driving to Princes Street where four other men joined the vehicle.

From there he said he was further ordered to proceed to Ketley Street where they began shooting in the vicinity of the two business places.

The man said that as the bandits left the vehicle, he slid on to the roadway and crawled across the street to where another car was parked and then went to a safer spot.

He said, "at no time did I panic or do anything stupid. I just stay in the car, remain calm and carried out their instructions." He said he was aware that his life was in their hands.

Mahendra Jagmohan, also called `Pet Boy', who owns the beer garden and pool bar, said he was in the `drinking' area and as soon as he saw the men he "ran upstairs."

He couldn't say if the bandits took anything from the shop. However his brother Suresh who works with him in the business, was shot in a leg.

There was a huge pool of blood in the customer area of the beer garden, evidence of where someone was shot.

Jagmohan's wife, Maureen, said she was upstairs in their dwelling quarters when her husband came upstairs telling her to "take off all the lights (and) big shooting going on."

She said she heard gunshots over at the neighbours' premises and when she peered from her verandah, she saw people in the yard next door and heard lots of shouting.

Shelly, her daughter, said she was in her bedroom when she heard the shooting and on looking outside saw "two cars and a set of boys with big guns shooting at the place."

The young woman said she escaped by jumping through a window and hurt her foot in the process.

When the Chronicle arrived at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, several relatives and friends of the wounded and dead were there.

Some of the wounded were placed on stretchers awaiting medical attention.

It was unclear how Norton was killed, but according to some reports he was crossing the street in the vicinity of Broad Street as the bandits were making their escape and was hit by a bullet.

Joseph was reportedly in the vicinity of Humphrey's Bakery when she was shot.

Witnesses said Police arrived on the scene just as the heavily armed men were making their getaway, but they were hampered in their bid to pursue the gang because of the huge crowds converging on the scene shortly after gunfire erupted.

Parjohn was reportedly killed in his bedroom.

As porters wheeled his body from the Emergency Unit of the hospital to the mortuary, his grief stricken wife `Nanda' begged to have "just one more look at his face."

Last night's killing came just four days after Ralph Bassoo, another businessman of South Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, was slain by bandits who also attacked and robbed his business place.