Turf war erupts in Buxton
Youth shot dead, houses torched
Stabroek News
April 5, 2003
Shooting erupted in Buxton yesterday morning leaving one youth dead and two other persons wounded in what many believe to be an ongoing feud between gangs operating in the troubled village.
The dead youth was identified as Kwesi Williams, of Ogle Street, Friendship; while those wounded were Samantha Pollard, 23, of Buxton Public Road and Compton Dorsette, also of the Friendship/Buxton area.
Two homes were also torched - one reportedly in retaliation for the shooting death of Williams and the other, in retaliation for the first house being burnt.
A press release from the Guyana Police Force yesterday said the first fire started at about 9.15 am completely destroying a 20 x 24 wooden building. Nothing was saved. In the other fire which started at around 10 am, a part of a wooden two-storey building was destroyed. On both occasions the Guyana Fire Service responded, the release said.
The first house at Ogle Street and Friendship Middle Walk was reportedly occupied by the alleged murderer of Williams, while the second house at the corner of Friendship, Middle Walk and the embankment road belonged to Cubic Leary Levi, the son-in-law of Edris Chester. Chester and her family were driven out of the village last year after their homes were burnt and they were fired at by gunmen.
Reports reaching Stabroek News state that a man, whose relative recently had to flee the village for his life, shot Williams at about 6.30 am before escaping into the house at the corner of Ogle Street and Friendship Middle Walk.
Sources revealed that after the shooting of Williams, residents summoned a Guyana Defence Force patrol to the scene. They said members of the patrol subsequently surrounded the house and summoned the police from the nearby Vigilance station.
This newspaper understands that after waiting for more than an hour, the soldiers were ordered to conduct an entry and search exercise without the police. At the time, one source said, the villagers were “very agitated” and the army had to decide whether to withdraw and allow the residents to take their own action, or enter the house and try to arrest the gunman.
Inside the house, the soldiers reportedly found an AK 47 assault rifle which had been modified to shoot in the automatic mode only, two magazines, 119 rounds of 7.62X39 ammunition, 17 rounds of 9mm ammo, three .45 bullets, 18 Molotov cocktails, a ‘Motorola’ radio with charger and a cellular phone. The team also found a passport issued to a former GDF soldier who was trained in 2000, but left the army last year.
Stabroek News understands that by the time the raiding party entered the house, the alleged perpetrator was already gone. None of the other occupants of the house were around.
“The soldiers recovered the items and left...After they left, the residents decided that they would burn out the bandit and the home was torched...completely destroyed,” a source stated. Reports indicate that after the house was burnt, a man called a resident and threatened that another house in the village would be burnt in retaliation. Levi’s house was subsequently torched.
But even as that drama was unfolding, a police patrol passing through the village was shot at, forcing the cops to return fire wounding a woman. The police release said that around 7.10 am, a police mobile patrol came under fire while proceeding west along the Buxton public road in the vicinity of Middle Dam, Buxton. The release noted that the ranks took cover after being shot at, but returned fire in the direction of the attackers. No rank was injured.
The police said that they were not certain as to how Pollard got shot, but residents are claiming that it was a bullet from the officers. Sources say the attackers fled the police through Pollard’s yard. Pollard was picked up by the army patrol and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Reports state that Pollard was in her yard at the time, picking up a towel, when she was reportedly caught in the crossfire and fell. Stabroek News understands that after the mother of one fell, a group of men ran over her and an old man in a bid to escape. Relatives were upset that the young woman arrived at the hospital sometime after 8 am, but did not receive treatment until after noon.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that at about 7.30 am two men attacked and shot Compton Dorsette at the corner of Company Road and Ogle Street. One of the attackers is reportedly wanted by the police for a series of crimes. Dorsette, too, was rushed to the hospital by a GDF patrol.
Buxton has been the epicentre of the crime wave that has gripped the country since last year March and gangs comprised of criminals have clashed frequently with others. Several persons have died in these confrontations. Yesterday’s shootings were said to be linked to murders which were committed in recent weeks.
