Two men die in confrontations with police
Stabroek News
January 27, 2003
Police shot and killed two persons last Friday in separate incidents in Georgetown and also wounded a man who allegedly robbed a woman on Thursday evening.
None of the men has been identified and the police are said to be conducting investigations. According to a press release dated January 24, a man who secreted himself in a clump of bushes and attacked a policeman with a cutlass during a police party's response to a report of vandalism was shot in the left cheek and pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Hospital.
The police said that around 5:30 am on Friday, the man who is yet to be identified was shot at the former Guystac Trade Two building. The release stated that galvanised sheets from the roof of the building have been stolen since it is not secured.
In the other fatal shooting, the release said prompt action by a policeman, thwarted a robbery under arms on a 56-year-old security guard by two suspects. The release stated that around 8:10 am on Friday in the vicinity of the Bank of Guyana, the policeman shot one of the suspects while effecting an arrest. The man was later pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
According to the release, the policeman who shot the man was travelling in a mini-bus along Avenue of the Republic and North Road when he observed the two armed suspects in the process of robbing the security guard.
The policeman came out of the mini-bus and went to the scene at which time he observed both suspects with knives placed to the victim's throat and side. The release stated that the policeman identified himself as a policeman in plain clothes and called on the suspects to surrender.
However, according to the release one of the suspects known as "Rawley attacked the policeman who drew his service revolver and discharged one round at him. The suspect fell to the ground and his accomplice eventually surrendered".
The police are presently holding the other man and investigations have already revealed that the deceased and his accomplice were in the process of committing their second robbery for the morning.
Additionally, on Thursday night a man was shot after he and three others allegedly snatched a woman's gold chain. The police acting upon information given to them by the woman pursued the men but only caught up with the one man who they said advanced to one of the police ranks with a knife. He was called upon to halt and refusing to do so he was shot.
Meanwhile, the release also stated that the police are continuing their investigations into the death of Hoffman Lall who was fatally wounded on Water Street last week Monday.
The police have since linked him with the killings of slain CANU officer, Harold Duncan, whose firearm he had in his possession at the time of his death.
Further, the weapon was believed to have been used in the murders of Junior Thompson on January 11 in Tiger Bay, Roxanne Seckle of Agricola and Randolph Bassoo on January 19.
Lall according to the police was convicted and sentenced in 1998 to three years imprisonment for break and enter and larceny. The police are continuing investigations in an effort to determine his possible involvement in other crimes.
Up to yesterday, the police were also still investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the body of an unidentified man on Thursday evening on Buxton Public Road in the vicinity of the main road and Sideline Dam.
