Alleged cop killer Shawn Gittens shot dead in Buxton
Body found on makeshift stretcher
Stabroek News
April 24, 2003
Wanted man Shawn Marco Gittens was yesterday shot dead in Buxton in what insiders are calling an "act of discipline" for his continued sexual assaults on village girls.
Gittens was reportedly killed around noon but army sources said when the Guyana Defence Force patrol went to retrieve the body, it had already been removed. It was not until 5:20 pm that the patrol found Gittens' body off Company Road, some 200 metres south of Pond Dam in a clump of black sage bushes.
Stabroek News understands that the body was found on a makeshift stretcher, wrapped in a sheet, and covered with some polypropylene bags. The man was reportedly shot seven times - once each in the chest, right temple, upper body, upper right arm, left cheek, and left and right ears.
Army sources said Gittens was clad in a pair of boxer shorts and a pair of blue and white socks. His feet were also bound with black tape and an intact 7.62 bullet was found next to the body. This newspaper understands that the patrol took the body to the Vigilance Police Station.
"It would appear that the report has been confirmed that he (Gittens) was warned repeatedly about raping and molesting females and he went ahead and did it again," the source said. Reports stated that the fugitive had been sexually assaulting women in the village for some time and was repeatedly warned not to do so.
Stabroek News was told that the man might have raped another woman on Tuesday night and was killed by members of the "criminal hardcore subgroup" which is being led by a notorious wanted man. Gittens' death is the latest in a series of fatal shootings in Buxton over recent months.
The Police Criminal Investigation Department had issued a wanted bulletin for Gittens on June 20, last year, in connection with a series of robberies and murders. A release from the Police Public Relations Office yesterday stated that Gittens was wanted for the murder of "policemen and civilians, a multiplicity of robberies and kidnapping". The police were on the hunt for Gittens, Romel Reman and the now deceased Kwame Pindleton after the July 11, 2002 execution of Detective Adrian London.
London was gunned down on Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge, while riding a motorcycle home. Another wanted bulletin was again issued for Gittens in early September last year after the murder of Police Inspector Leyland October.
