Bartica atrocity: Rabid barbarism repeated
- relatives reel from loss of loved ones
Law enforcement authorities and other officials are still trying to determine the motive for another senseless attack by ruthless gunmen, which claimed the lives of 12 innocent persons in the Bartica community on Sunday night, three weeks after the January 26 atrocity in Lusignan – an act of barbarism still fresh in the minds of civil-minded Guyanese.
The premeditated and well calculated act by brazen killers on this occasion mercilessly cut down three policemen and nine civilians.
The dead ranks are: Lance Corporal 18632 Zaheer Zakir of Leonora Housing Scheme, Constable 16906 Shane Fredericks, 35, of Lot 241 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, and Constable 19886 Ron Osborne, of 189 Robb Street.
Others killed are taxi driver Dexter Adrian, 37, of 581 Constellation Street, Tucville; Orvin Ferreira, a 72-year-old security guard employed at CB&R Mining Enterprise in First Avenue, Bartica; Abdool Yassin Jr., of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara; boat Captain Deonarine Singh, 54, of Mariaâ€ââ€Â¢s Pleasure, Wakenaam; Errol Thomas of Tuschen, and Ronald Gomes of Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, all employees of Boodhooâ€ââ€Â¢s General Store; and Banks DIH security guard Irwin Gilkes, 42, of Bartica; Ashraf Ally Khan, 45, of Middlesex, Essequibo Coast, and another Banks DIH employee, Baldeo Singh, 54, of 153 Second Street, Montrose, East Coast Demerara.
Several others, including Police Constables 20219 Mark Campbell, 29, of One Mile, Linden, and 20231 Chester Benjamin, 28, of Goed Fortuin Housing Scheme, were also injured in the 60-minute rampage.
Raymond White, Godfrey Patanello, Brazilian National Jadarson Dos Santos, 14, Lisa Narine, 15, and Melrose Allicock of Bartica, complete the list of injured. Dos Santos was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital while the others were treated and sent away.
A Joint Services release has informed that 165 spent shells of 7.62 x 39 calibre, eight 7.62 x 51 spent shells, three .32 spent shells along with eleven 7.62 x 39 and 15 .32 live rounds have been recovered so far.
RELATIVESâ€ââ€Â¢ REACTION
Scores of relatives converged at the Ogle Aerodrome yesterday morning hoping to get a glimpse of their loved ones. Most of them were hoping that their worst fears would not have been confirmed. However, they were hit with the harsh reality of the situation later in the morning when they identified the bodies at the Lyken Funeral Parlour. Heavy wailing followed immediately after the viewing of the bodies by the throng of relatives outside the parlour.
Amidst tears, Ashraf Ally Khanâ€ââ€Â¢s wife, Juliet, said that she received a call at around 02:00 hours yesterday informing her that her husband had been brutally killed.
According to Mrs. Khan, she refused to believe what she heard, but asked another relative to travel to the city to investigate.
The widowed Mrs. Khan said that her brother-in-law travelled to Georgetown at first light and was also greeted with the news of the brutal slaying by relatives of the other deceased.
After anxiously waiting at the Ogle Aerodrome for almost an hour, she said, her brother-in-law was advised to visit the Lyken Funeral Parlour, where relatives would be able to identify the deceased.
Fighting to hold back tears, the woman said that her brother-in-law finally called at around noon yesterday saying that is was indeed her husband who was among those slaughtered.
Mrs. Khan said that her husband, who was the only breadwinner for the home, had been employed at Banks DIH Limited for the past five years.
According to her, she last saw her husband during the first week of this month when he left for Bartica where he was stationed.
The grieving woman added that her husband was expected back home tomorrow (Wednesday). Khan is survived by his wife and three children.
Joan Rowe, mother of slain taxi driver Dexter Adrian, was unable to control her emotions, and had to be aided by other relatives and friends after seeing her sonâ€ââ€Â¢s body at the parlour.
Rowe was too overcome with grief to speak to Kaieteur News. Adrian, a father of two, was killed in his car.
Constable Fredericksâ€ââ€Â¢s wife, Indira, also needed assistance to cope with the loss of her husband. She eventually told Kaieteur News that her husband, a father of one, was a very nice person. She added that he had been a police officer since he was about 18 years old.
Gilkesâ€ââ€Â¢s nephew, Wendell Nurse, described him as the most peaceful person in Bartica. Nurse added that Gilkes, a father of one, had been employed at Banks DIH as a security guard for several years.
Deonarine Singh, known as ‘Biggaâ€ââ€Â¢, 55, of Mariaâ€ââ€Â¢s Pleasure, was employed at Boodhooâ€ââ€Â¢s General Store as captain on a vessel called the Little Giants, which transported furniture and goods from Parika to Bartica.
Singh was the sole breadwinner for his family.
The atmosphere outside the parlour yesterday was poignant, with relatives huddled together amidst cries of agony. Meanwhile, the relatives of Baldeo Singh told this newspaper that he was last seen earlier in the week. However, having heard of the incident, relatives said, they had already prepared for the worst.
“When we wake up, right away we turn on de TV, and as soon as I hear that is a Banks DIH boat, right away me seh he dead,†a relative said.
The manâ€ââ€Â¢s family told Kaieteur News that, after viewing the aftermath of the nightâ€ââ€Â¢s events, they decided to check with the Lyken Funeral Home, where they finally confirmed that Singh was among those slaughtered.
Over in Good Hope, relatives of Abdool Yassin Jr. were also overwhelmed with grief. Relatives said Yassin had recently graduated from the University of Guyana, and decided to give up furthering his studies to take care of his mother and two other siblings. Only last year, relatives said, Yassin lost his father, and the family is still mourning that loss and are now forced to deal with yet another death in the family. Friends who gathered at Yassinâ€ââ€Â¢s Good Hope residence were heard lamenting what a hard working person he was and how dedicated he was to taking care of his two sisters and widowed mother. “Since he finish UG he go and wuk. He does hardly deh home, he all about looking after he family,†a friend recounted.
COLD-BLOODED EXECUTIONS
Meanwhile, Regional Chairman Holbert Knights could only use the words 'cold-blooded executions' to describe Sunday nightâ€ââ€Â¢s mayhem.
From his understanding, Knights said, the gunmen came by boat, landed at the Transport and Harbours Department Ferry Stelling, and immediately attacked the crewmen of two boats moored there at the time. “They ordered six of the crewmen (three each from the two boats) to lie face down on the stelling, and they cold bloodedly executed them. Almost all of them had a single bullet wound to the head.â€ÂÂ
Knights told Kaieteur News that the next target of the gunmen was the Bartica Police Station -- a stoneâ€ââ€Â¢s throw away -- where they left three ranks dead and two wounded. One of the latter was seriously injured with gunshot wounds to his chest, while the other was shot in his arms and hip.
During the attack, the gunmen blasted their way into the living quarters of the police station, cornering two unarmed ranks and cold-bloodedly murdering them in the kitchen area. One was shot in the head once, while the other had multiple gunshot wounds about the body.
After the police station, one of the gunmen approached the security guard at the nearby Guyana Gold Board office. The guard mistook the gunman for a police rank and was in the process of identifying himself when he was shot in his buttocks. He went to the hospital insisting that he was shot by a police rank, but upon investigation realized that it was a gunman dressed as a police who had shot him.
Leaving the police station and heading south along First Avenue, the men unleashed a barrage of gunfire, hitting the security guard at the Banks DIH outlet located obliquely to the police station. He succumbed about an hour later at the Bartica Regional Hospital.
The onslaught continued along First Avenue, with the brazen gunmen in a police vehicle firing randomly at houses and vehicles. Fifteen-year-old student Lisa Narine, who was selling confectionery, was grazed by a bullet after she went on her knees in a plea for her life. The gunmen then continued to the head office of CB&R Mining. There, they represented themselves to the security guard on duty as police officers, and he opened the gate to the business premises. Once inside, they ordered him to open the door to the business. He could not, as he was not in possession of the keys. They kicked the door open, and once inside, they shot up the security cameras, removed the disc from the monitor, and executed the guard. He had a single gunshot wound to the head. They ransacked the building and took away two safes, one containing in excess of four million in cash, representing the payroll for workers.
They also emptied one containing 11 firearms (the property of CB&R Mining). While at CB&R, a bullet hit teenaged Brazilian Jadarson Dos Santos in his leg. Melrose Allicock was also shot. Unfortunately, at around the same time, taxi driver Dexter Adrian pulled up at the location to purchase fuel, and he was fatally shot. His passenger, Raymond White, was also shot in both of his arms and legs.
The gunmen then proceeded to another place of business, heading further south along First Avenue, where, in an attempt to enter the building, they broke three windows with a sledgehammer.
Realizing that immediately after the windows there was a wall, they broke a hole large enough in the wall for one bandit to pass through. That individual entered the building and opened the front door from the inside, allowing his accomplices entry. The house was riddled and ransacked. The family members, comprising a husband, wife and their three children, had already secured themselves at another location.
After leaving the second business place, the attackers proceeded in the police vehicle into Fourth Avenue, which is relatively far away from First Avenue, to the residence of the Officer in Charge of the station, and attempted to call him out of the house, but he was fortunately not at home.
Getting no response, the gunmen released a volley of shots into the air and left.
They returned to the Transport and Harbours Department stelling from whence they came, parked the vehicle with the engine running, and left in a speedboat, leaving in their wake eleven innocent persons dead. At about 02:00hrs on Monday, five persons were air dashed to the capital city, but one succumbed on the way – the twelfth victim. He was the sixth crew member who was shot in the head.
Immediately after the wounded started arriving at the Georgetown Public Hospital, that medical institution was turned into a communication base from which contacts were established with the army and the police between Georgetown and Bartica.
Personnel from the GDF arrived at Bartica at about 23:45 hrs and secured the area. They were joined by ranks of the Joint Services at approximately midnight, after a plane touched down at Baganara, on the other side of the Essequibo River from Bartica.
By that time the bandits were long gone.
Victims
Relative reaction
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- relatives reel from loss of loved ones
Law enforcement authorities and other officials are still trying to determine the motive for another senseless attack by ruthless gunmen, which claimed the lives of 12 innocent persons in the Bartica community on Sunday night, three weeks after the January 26 atrocity in Lusignan – an act of barbarism still fresh in the minds of civil-minded Guyanese.
The premeditated and well calculated act by brazen killers on this occasion mercilessly cut down three policemen and nine civilians.
The dead ranks are: Lance Corporal 18632 Zaheer Zakir of Leonora Housing Scheme, Constable 16906 Shane Fredericks, 35, of Lot 241 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara, and Constable 19886 Ron Osborne, of 189 Robb Street.
Others killed are taxi driver Dexter Adrian, 37, of 581 Constellation Street, Tucville; Orvin Ferreira, a 72-year-old security guard employed at CB&R Mining Enterprise in First Avenue, Bartica; Abdool Yassin Jr., of Good Hope, East Coast Demerara; boat Captain Deonarine Singh, 54, of Mariaâ€ââ€Â¢s Pleasure, Wakenaam; Errol Thomas of Tuschen, and Ronald Gomes of Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, all employees of Boodhooâ€ââ€Â¢s General Store; and Banks DIH security guard Irwin Gilkes, 42, of Bartica; Ashraf Ally Khan, 45, of Middlesex, Essequibo Coast, and another Banks DIH employee, Baldeo Singh, 54, of 153 Second Street, Montrose, East Coast Demerara.
Several others, including Police Constables 20219 Mark Campbell, 29, of One Mile, Linden, and 20231 Chester Benjamin, 28, of Goed Fortuin Housing Scheme, were also injured in the 60-minute rampage.
Raymond White, Godfrey Patanello, Brazilian National Jadarson Dos Santos, 14, Lisa Narine, 15, and Melrose Allicock of Bartica, complete the list of injured. Dos Santos was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital while the others were treated and sent away.
A Joint Services release has informed that 165 spent shells of 7.62 x 39 calibre, eight 7.62 x 51 spent shells, three .32 spent shells along with eleven 7.62 x 39 and 15 .32 live rounds have been recovered so far.
RELATIVESâ€ââ€Â¢ REACTION
Scores of relatives converged at the Ogle Aerodrome yesterday morning hoping to get a glimpse of their loved ones. Most of them were hoping that their worst fears would not have been confirmed. However, they were hit with the harsh reality of the situation later in the morning when they identified the bodies at the Lyken Funeral Parlour. Heavy wailing followed immediately after the viewing of the bodies by the throng of relatives outside the parlour.
Amidst tears, Ashraf Ally Khanâ€ââ€Â¢s wife, Juliet, said that she received a call at around 02:00 hours yesterday informing her that her husband had been brutally killed.
According to Mrs. Khan, she refused to believe what she heard, but asked another relative to travel to the city to investigate.
The widowed Mrs. Khan said that her brother-in-law travelled to Georgetown at first light and was also greeted with the news of the brutal slaying by relatives of the other deceased.
After anxiously waiting at the Ogle Aerodrome for almost an hour, she said, her brother-in-law was advised to visit the Lyken Funeral Parlour, where relatives would be able to identify the deceased.
Fighting to hold back tears, the woman said that her brother-in-law finally called at around noon yesterday saying that is was indeed her husband who was among those slaughtered.
Mrs. Khan said that her husband, who was the only breadwinner for the home, had been employed at Banks DIH Limited for the past five years.
According to her, she last saw her husband during the first week of this month when he left for Bartica where he was stationed.
The grieving woman added that her husband was expected back home tomorrow (Wednesday). Khan is survived by his wife and three children.
Joan Rowe, mother of slain taxi driver Dexter Adrian, was unable to control her emotions, and had to be aided by other relatives and friends after seeing her sonâ€ââ€Â¢s body at the parlour.
Rowe was too overcome with grief to speak to Kaieteur News. Adrian, a father of two, was killed in his car.
Constable Fredericksâ€ââ€Â¢s wife, Indira, also needed assistance to cope with the loss of her husband. She eventually told Kaieteur News that her husband, a father of one, was a very nice person. She added that he had been a police officer since he was about 18 years old.
Gilkesâ€ââ€Â¢s nephew, Wendell Nurse, described him as the most peaceful person in Bartica. Nurse added that Gilkes, a father of one, had been employed at Banks DIH as a security guard for several years.
Deonarine Singh, known as ‘Biggaâ€ââ€Â¢, 55, of Mariaâ€ââ€Â¢s Pleasure, was employed at Boodhooâ€ââ€Â¢s General Store as captain on a vessel called the Little Giants, which transported furniture and goods from Parika to Bartica.
Singh was the sole breadwinner for his family.
The atmosphere outside the parlour yesterday was poignant, with relatives huddled together amidst cries of agony. Meanwhile, the relatives of Baldeo Singh told this newspaper that he was last seen earlier in the week. However, having heard of the incident, relatives said, they had already prepared for the worst.
“When we wake up, right away we turn on de TV, and as soon as I hear that is a Banks DIH boat, right away me seh he dead,†a relative said.
The manâ€ââ€Â¢s family told Kaieteur News that, after viewing the aftermath of the nightâ€ââ€Â¢s events, they decided to check with the Lyken Funeral Home, where they finally confirmed that Singh was among those slaughtered.
Over in Good Hope, relatives of Abdool Yassin Jr. were also overwhelmed with grief. Relatives said Yassin had recently graduated from the University of Guyana, and decided to give up furthering his studies to take care of his mother and two other siblings. Only last year, relatives said, Yassin lost his father, and the family is still mourning that loss and are now forced to deal with yet another death in the family. Friends who gathered at Yassinâ€ââ€Â¢s Good Hope residence were heard lamenting what a hard working person he was and how dedicated he was to taking care of his two sisters and widowed mother. “Since he finish UG he go and wuk. He does hardly deh home, he all about looking after he family,†a friend recounted.
COLD-BLOODED EXECUTIONS
Meanwhile, Regional Chairman Holbert Knights could only use the words 'cold-blooded executions' to describe Sunday nightâ€ââ€Â¢s mayhem.
From his understanding, Knights said, the gunmen came by boat, landed at the Transport and Harbours Department Ferry Stelling, and immediately attacked the crewmen of two boats moored there at the time. “They ordered six of the crewmen (three each from the two boats) to lie face down on the stelling, and they cold bloodedly executed them. Almost all of them had a single bullet wound to the head.â€ÂÂ
Knights told Kaieteur News that the next target of the gunmen was the Bartica Police Station -- a stoneâ€ââ€Â¢s throw away -- where they left three ranks dead and two wounded. One of the latter was seriously injured with gunshot wounds to his chest, while the other was shot in his arms and hip.
During the attack, the gunmen blasted their way into the living quarters of the police station, cornering two unarmed ranks and cold-bloodedly murdering them in the kitchen area. One was shot in the head once, while the other had multiple gunshot wounds about the body.
After the police station, one of the gunmen approached the security guard at the nearby Guyana Gold Board office. The guard mistook the gunman for a police rank and was in the process of identifying himself when he was shot in his buttocks. He went to the hospital insisting that he was shot by a police rank, but upon investigation realized that it was a gunman dressed as a police who had shot him.
Leaving the police station and heading south along First Avenue, the men unleashed a barrage of gunfire, hitting the security guard at the Banks DIH outlet located obliquely to the police station. He succumbed about an hour later at the Bartica Regional Hospital.
The onslaught continued along First Avenue, with the brazen gunmen in a police vehicle firing randomly at houses and vehicles. Fifteen-year-old student Lisa Narine, who was selling confectionery, was grazed by a bullet after she went on her knees in a plea for her life. The gunmen then continued to the head office of CB&R Mining. There, they represented themselves to the security guard on duty as police officers, and he opened the gate to the business premises. Once inside, they ordered him to open the door to the business. He could not, as he was not in possession of the keys. They kicked the door open, and once inside, they shot up the security cameras, removed the disc from the monitor, and executed the guard. He had a single gunshot wound to the head. They ransacked the building and took away two safes, one containing in excess of four million in cash, representing the payroll for workers.
They also emptied one containing 11 firearms (the property of CB&R Mining). While at CB&R, a bullet hit teenaged Brazilian Jadarson Dos Santos in his leg. Melrose Allicock was also shot. Unfortunately, at around the same time, taxi driver Dexter Adrian pulled up at the location to purchase fuel, and he was fatally shot. His passenger, Raymond White, was also shot in both of his arms and legs.
The gunmen then proceeded to another place of business, heading further south along First Avenue, where, in an attempt to enter the building, they broke three windows with a sledgehammer.
Realizing that immediately after the windows there was a wall, they broke a hole large enough in the wall for one bandit to pass through. That individual entered the building and opened the front door from the inside, allowing his accomplices entry. The house was riddled and ransacked. The family members, comprising a husband, wife and their three children, had already secured themselves at another location.
After leaving the second business place, the attackers proceeded in the police vehicle into Fourth Avenue, which is relatively far away from First Avenue, to the residence of the Officer in Charge of the station, and attempted to call him out of the house, but he was fortunately not at home.
Getting no response, the gunmen released a volley of shots into the air and left.
They returned to the Transport and Harbours Department stelling from whence they came, parked the vehicle with the engine running, and left in a speedboat, leaving in their wake eleven innocent persons dead. At about 02:00hrs on Monday, five persons were air dashed to the capital city, but one succumbed on the way – the twelfth victim. He was the sixth crew member who was shot in the head.
Immediately after the wounded started arriving at the Georgetown Public Hospital, that medical institution was turned into a communication base from which contacts were established with the army and the police between Georgetown and Bartica.
Personnel from the GDF arrived at Bartica at about 23:45 hrs and secured the area. They were joined by ranks of the Joint Services at approximately midnight, after a plane touched down at Baganara, on the other side of the Essequibo River from Bartica.
By that time the bandits were long gone.
Victims
Relative reaction
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