Man shot in Buxton denies involvement in police killing
Stabroek News
February 2, 2004
A man who police say has been eluding them for a long time now was shot and wounded during a police raid in Buxton early Saturday morning and he is denying any involvement in the killing of a law enforcer last year.
Eight other men were detained by the police in the raid.
The raid came in the wake of the re-emergence of a criminal group in the village which for this year has already carried out a number of armed robberies on residents in the villages of Vigilance, Strathspey, Non Pariel and Coldingen.
The group had also ambushed and opened fire on a pick-up with seven men two weeks ago on Brushe Dam, Friendship. Two of the men Ganga Persaud and Sukram Persaud were seriously injured during the melee.
Police say the shot man, Trayon Summer, 23, of Buxton is part of the youth gang which has reorganised a criminal enterprise in the village of Buxton and have been robbing minibuses. They are also believed to have been responsible for the robbery of several national footballers on Friday evening at the Buxton Community Centre. These charges have been denied by Summer.
It was not clear yesterday whether the arrested men were still in police custody but Summer was under police guard shackled to his hospital bed.
Reports out of Buxton said that the police had returned to the village yesterday morning on patrol but there was no raid.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday from his hospital bed Summer said he was being wrongfully accused. He said he got a tip off on Friday that the police were going to raid the village on Saturday morning and therefore went into his farm at the back of Buxton for his own safety.
"I know whenever deh come in dis place to carry out anything they would beat up people, go in them house and shoot up and all things so I decided to go in the backdam," Summer said.
He told Stabroek News that he and a friend went into his farm on Friday night.
He said around 4 am on Saturday he and his friend were conversing when all of a sudden they heard footsteps in the bush. Summer said they were lying on the dam at the time but when they heard the sound they got up. He said as they looked out they saw a party of policemen armed to the teeth approaching them.
"Ya'll don't run," Summer quoted one of the policemen as saying once they spotted them.
He said he and his friend whom he described as very small attempted to flee.
However, while his friend was lucky to escape he was shot in his left leg. Summer said on being shot he rolled over into a nearby trench at which time the cops surrounded him and ordered him out. Summer told Stabroek News he complied but when he emerged from the water a policeman stood on his injured leg. The police could not be reached yesterday to respond to Summer's charge.
He said they interrogated him for a long time while beating him on his head with their helmets. Summer said he was asked about the whereabouts of his friend who escaped, wanted man Troy Dick, and also for information as to those responsible for the many minibus robberies and shootings.
Summer was eventually escorted by the cops to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary before being transported to the Georgetown Hospital where he is now a patient. He said his left leg was broken but the bullet was removed.
Summer admitted that he limed with the wanted men before they were executed. "But I never get involved in anything they used to do. In fact other people used to hang out with the wanted men too, those people ain't no criminal," Summer asserted.
Asked about the killing of policeman Walton Brummel for which he was also being sought, Summer recalled that he and Biko Edwards, another Buxtonian, had joined the minibus at Victoria on their way home.
He said Brummel entered the vehicle at Melanie where he resided. According to Summer, when the vehicle stopped to put him and Edwards off at Company Road two other men forced their way in at which time the shooting erupted. He said Edwards at the time was standing at the corner of the vehicle when Brummel who was armed at the time shot him in his head.
He argued that if indeed the police had suspected him of being involved in Brummel's killing, they would have come after him a long time ago.
"I always live in Buxton, they know me and know where me does hang out, why they ain't come after me since then? Why only now?" Brummel asked.
Summer and Edwards had been accused of trying to rob the minibus when Brummel and a man from Victoria put up a fight. Edwards allegedly shot both men, but not before he was fatally shot in his head. Edwards is severely incapacitated as a result of the wound he received.