Police and army patrols fired at
Annandale residents complain of reckless response
By Andre Haynes
Stabroek News
January 24, 2003
A police vehicle from the Vigilance police station was ambushed early yesterday morning as it responded to a report of an abandoned car at Annandale, East Coast Demerara.
A policeman sustained minor scrapes and bruises as he sought cover from the gunmen who opened fire on the vehicle while it was on the Annandale Railway Embankment Road, South not far from Buxton.
This is the second such occasion where gunmen have used a car to lure police into a trap. On January 13 a policeman was shot in the stomach while responding to a report of a hijacked car in Festival City.
A Guyana Defence Force (GDF) patrol also came under fire yesterday after responding to the incident and along with police was forced to engage the gunmen.
But furious Annandale residents living along the South Railway Embankment Road are claiming that their homes were fired upon by both police and army ranks during the exercise, which they said endangered the lives of their children and caused damage to their property.
Police were at the time investigating the discovery of a car, PEE 3264, which had been stolen from the scene of Wednesday night’s siege on two beer gardens in Charlestown. The car, belonging to Lance Corporal Jeffrey Layne, was used by bandits during their escape. (See other story on centre pages.)
According to a statement from the Police Public Relations Office, the police from Vigilance Police Station who were shot at “returned fire and adopted tactical positions in the process of engaging the gunmen [who] fled further south.”
The statement said that a police constable who was in the vehicle sustained bruises to the elbows and knees in the process of seeking cover from the gunfire.
According to eyewitnesses, the police vehicle, which was travelling east along the Embankment Road, was hit while it was about to turn into Corny Street, which leads to the Annandale Public Road. They said that another police vehicle which had already turned into Corny Street, quickly sped to the Public Road, leaving their comrades stranded.
The officers quickly got out of the vehicle and sought cover as the barrage of bullets continued. They then returned steady fire and called for backup. A GDF patrol arrived shortly after, by which time the shooting had subsided, and entered onto the Embankment Road where ranks then opened fire, the residents said.
According to residents living along the Embankment Road, gunfire forced many persons including children to scatter for safety.
When Stabroek News visited many of them produced bullets and spent shells which they had recovered from their homes. At least four houses had bullet holes which residents said resulted from the shooting.
One woman said her four-year-old son had been on the road awaiting transportation to pre-school, along with other children when the firing erupted. Another said soldiers fired shots which hit his house where his six-month-old son had been. His wife injured her forearm while diving for cover. According to him both police and soldiers were responsible for the damage to his home. The GDF said yesterday this was highly unlikely and the police said there had been no reports of policemen firing at the homes of residents.
At another home at 30 Annandale South Railway Embankment a hole was evident in the eastern wall of the upper flat. The bullet penetrated a second wall and came to rest in the children’s bedroom nearly missing a double bunk bed. At the time a four-year-old child was in the home, while four children had been sitting on an eastern stairway. Three adults in the yard at the time sought cover. One woman said she quickly ran to the back of the yard and jumped through a back window and lay on the floor. “If children was in de house wha woulda happen? Police outa hand I tell ya.”
“Who will pay for this?” another resident angrily lamented while pointing to bullet holes along the wall of the house.
Other residents said police, who were firing westward in the direction of neighbouring Buxton, had sprayed areas in the immediate vicinity of Annandale South.
Residents of a house at the end of Corny Street near the junction where the police had come under fire said they recovered shells and bullets from their home.
“Police spray de area. Police have no regard! Wha woulda happen now if dey hit one a de children going to school? They can’t go to school now.”
When contacted yesterday Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Pompey of the GDF confirmed that a patrol while responding in support of a police patrol had come under fire. He said the patrol was forced to respond and he affirmed that investigations were ongoing into the incident.
Responding to the allegations of the residents he said there had never been any reported cases of excesses on the part of the army.
He noted too that the GDF had a proud and credible record of accountable and professional conduct since being deployed in operations on the East Coast of Demerara.
“Therefore,” he said “the suggestion that the GDF fired at residents in an unprovoked and unwarranted manner is highly unlikely.” Police Public Relations Officer David Ramnarine meanwhile said that there had been no official reports of policemen firing at the homes of residents in the area.
