Police shoot two dead
-following robbery
By Andre Haynes
Stabroek News
January 19, 2003
Two men were yesterday afternoon shot dead by police as they hid in a bathroom stall where they were holed-up, shortly after they had reportedly committed a robbery.
Sources last night confirmed as dead Charles Hinckson, 23, called `Lil Charlie,' of 34, North Sophia, Greater Georgetown, and Marlon Wilson, 19, of 33, North Sophia.
Stabroek News understands that the men received multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, face and lower extremities. They were declared dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) at 5:40 pm, and the bodies were identified by Wilson's uncle, Brian Wilson.
This newspaper understands too that a cutlass and a .32 calibre revolver were recovered from the men.
One woman, who prefers not to be identified, told this newspaper that the men had robbed her of cash and jewellery. She said they then ran into Hadfield street, towards Lime street. When the police arrived on the scene, the robbers were hiding in an exterior bathroom stall in the yard of a house at 58 Lime Street, Werk-en-Rust.
The one-storey house, which is without a bottom flat is currently unoccupied, though a caretaker is said to sometimes visit, residents said.
The robbery victim claimed that the incident occurred some time around 5:00 pm yesterday while she was standing at the junction of Lime and Bent streets, in front of Merriman's Funeral Home. She related that the two men, one armed with a pistol and the other, a cutlass, pounced on her from behind.
According to the woman, the cutlass-wielding robber placed the blade to her throat, threatening to chop her if she did not hand over her valuables.
At the time, she was wearing two gold chains and a gold bracelet. Her pocket book contained $20,000 cash, as well as her cellular phone. The men took everything.
The whole incident, she said, lasted no more than one minute. Not long after the robbery, the woman said she summoned police. Ten minutes later, the law enforcers arrived in large numbers, comprising various units, including ranks of the Target Special Squad and the Impact Patrol. The cops immediately scoured the area for the two men.
Residents who were in the immediate vicinity at the time said the police came into the back of the yard where a number of children had been playing, claiming that they were looking for bandits. The ranks tore down a fence at the back of the yard and began firing wildly, some residents alleged.
According to one of them, the police then began to fire indiscriminately while warning other residents to get back inside their homes.
"He said get the [expletive] inside and let the police do their work!" the resident angrily recalled.
The man said police, after clearing the back of the yard, saying that there were no bandits there, then proceeded to the front, following which residents heard gunfire.
"They leave and they go in front and they say, come out! "Before anything else [happened] they started shooting."
Located at the north-eastern corner in the compound, the three-foot by five-foot stall where the men had hidden, was riddled with bullets. There were at least twelve bullet holes in the wooden door of the stall, while there were ten holes along the side of the door and western wall, which is made of concrete. Not all of the bullets had penetrated the wall, indicating that these shots had been fired from outside. Many of the indentations left by the bullets were some six inches in diameter. Inside the stall each of the walls was badly riddled with bullet holes, the impressions of which were mainly concentrated along the eastern wall.
The woman who had been robbed told Stabroek News that she believed the police may have located the men by calling her cellular phone, for which she provided the number.
The Police Public Relations Office was unwilling to comment until more information became available.
