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Bartica worst tragedy - Regional Chairman
By Mondale Smith and Alex Wayne in Bartica
Whether the motive was robbery, intimidation or terrorising the community, all were achieved in one dastardly act that lasted for more than an hour, plunging most of Region Seven into an intense state of fear and mourning.
Yesterday, when Kaieteur News arrived at Bartica, most of the businesses were closed and the same held for most of the eight schools in the area, while only 13 percent attendance was recorded at Bartica Secondary.
Up to news time, there was a heavy army and police presence, and the pockets of people gathered in the streets and avenues spoke in hushed tones while looking over their shoulders.
This is the worst tragedy ever in the Bartica community history! This was the opinion of Regional Chairman Holbert Knights when speaking of Sunday nights slaughter of 12 innocent people. I cannot recall a situation where even a civilian had fatally shot another person in Bartica, let alone gunmen killing 12 persons here in such a fashion.
Sundays killing has shattered the whole notion that we are relatively safer than the coastland because of our geography. We have always believed that the escape routes are very limited, but the thought has been brutally shattered, especially with the ease with which the more than a dozen gunmen held Bartica at siege before escaping without anyone being caught, wounded, or even killed on their side.
On his feet since the night before, Knights related that the entire Region Seven is in shock and disbelief, and people are openly expressing fears of experiencing worse. Three police ranks were among those cut down by bullets: Constable Ron Osborne, Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir and Constable Shane Fredericks.
The crewmen who lost their lives are: -- from Boodhoos vessel: Deonarine Singh, Errol Thomas, Ronald Gomes. Dead from a Banks DIH vessel are Abdool Yasin Jr, Ashraf Ally Khan, and Baldeo Singh.
Also dead are taxi driver Dexter Adrian; Edwin Gilkes, a security guard of Banks DIH, and Orvin Ferreira, a security guard at CB&R Mining.
There were eight persons injured, including two policemen, Mark Campbell and Chester Benjamin. The others are teenagers Lisa Narine and Brazilian Jadarson Dos Santos, and Guyanese Raymond Whyte, Melrose Allicock and Godfrey Paternella.
Regional Chairman Knights, while expressing the community distraught state, explained that the situation has exposed what Barticians have been taking for granted for so long -- the general feeling that, the recent crime situation had nothing to do with us (Barticians).
The regional administration is working with all stakeholders to ensure that immediate plans are put in place to guarantee the safety of citizens and to help those who suffered losses and injuries in whatever way possible, and continue to encourage the citizens to look ahead as together we deal with the situation. The hospital has since set up a unit to counsel those who were affected by the tragedy,Knights said.
The Regional Chairman stated that he has no clue of the motive for the massacre, but he noted that the gunmen knew their targets and exactly what they were going for. Bartica once known as the gateway to the interior and home to a population that is close to 20,000 is a village of seven avenues and nine streets. A religious community where mostly miners dwell with their families it is described as closely knit where major crimes are mainly stabbing incidents with minimal cases of fatalities as a result of criminality.
It is known also for the Easter Regatta when boaters take on each other for top honours and a beauty queen is crowned annually. But now less than a month after eleven persons were massacred at Lusignan gunmen turned their killing rampage to the quiet community on the Essequibo River.
Though residents never imagined that it would as they are geographically too far away from the many criminal happenings on the Coast, the specter of death of the worst kind has visited leaving them in mourning for friends, family, relatives and security officials.
As at yesterday the general consensus of residents from First Avenue to the four miles road was that Bartica will never be the same again.
One guest at a hotel close-by related that The shooting start about 9:30 and from then to about an hour and a half after it was bare shots licking like movie style.
Most residents upon hearing the rapid gunfire that lasted for more than an hour said they spent the night on the floor hoping that their home would not be attacked.
I aint sleep a wink till now. When the gunshots started I grab me children and hit the floor and prayed like I never did before. At one point I thought that the men were coming in me house as the sound of shots got closer. I never got up to see anything till me phone ring and people tell me that people dead and the shooting done, one woman said.
The police station that offered a sense of security to the residents is now a crime scene and is void of five of the familiar faces. Three of its ranks lay dead and two others injured.
The new scene yesterday was one where the security is the Joint Services on patrol and foot through some streets and in limited vehicles.
All matters slated for the court housed in the same compound as the police station were postponed until a date to be announced and visits to the eight schools on the mainland village proved that schools were mostly unattended.
When Kaieteur News visited the Bartica Secondary school teachers were in discussions while some served as councilors for others who were visibly moved to tears. One student from that school is nursing a gunshot wound to her knee after she knelt and begged for her life as the gunmen passed by her home.
Some openly expressed fears of going anywhere alone as well as some have decided that late night walks and hangs at the beach front are over.
Regional Chairman Knights said that the peoples main concern is that the gunmen might be hiding out on one of the nearby islands awaiting another opportunity to strike. Some openly stated that “nothing can make us comfortable at present. We are willing to support whatever the Joint Services decide to do but right now we want to sleep again, one man said. To some its just a bad dream that they can't wake up from. Some fear that the gunmen are still close by even as the Joint services was late last night mounting some serious patrols.
Reports from police sources indicate that the gunmen after their killing spree removed a sizable sum of arms and ammunition that were the property of the Guyana Police Force as well as some weaponry that belonged to miners.
By Mondale Smith and Alex Wayne in Bartica
Whether the motive was robbery, intimidation or terrorising the community, all were achieved in one dastardly act that lasted for more than an hour, plunging most of Region Seven into an intense state of fear and mourning.
Yesterday, when Kaieteur News arrived at Bartica, most of the businesses were closed and the same held for most of the eight schools in the area, while only 13 percent attendance was recorded at Bartica Secondary.
Up to news time, there was a heavy army and police presence, and the pockets of people gathered in the streets and avenues spoke in hushed tones while looking over their shoulders.
This is the worst tragedy ever in the Bartica community history! This was the opinion of Regional Chairman Holbert Knights when speaking of Sunday nights slaughter of 12 innocent people. I cannot recall a situation where even a civilian had fatally shot another person in Bartica, let alone gunmen killing 12 persons here in such a fashion.
Sundays killing has shattered the whole notion that we are relatively safer than the coastland because of our geography. We have always believed that the escape routes are very limited, but the thought has been brutally shattered, especially with the ease with which the more than a dozen gunmen held Bartica at siege before escaping without anyone being caught, wounded, or even killed on their side.
On his feet since the night before, Knights related that the entire Region Seven is in shock and disbelief, and people are openly expressing fears of experiencing worse. Three police ranks were among those cut down by bullets: Constable Ron Osborne, Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir and Constable Shane Fredericks.
The crewmen who lost their lives are: -- from Boodhoos vessel: Deonarine Singh, Errol Thomas, Ronald Gomes. Dead from a Banks DIH vessel are Abdool Yasin Jr, Ashraf Ally Khan, and Baldeo Singh.
Also dead are taxi driver Dexter Adrian; Edwin Gilkes, a security guard of Banks DIH, and Orvin Ferreira, a security guard at CB&R Mining.
There were eight persons injured, including two policemen, Mark Campbell and Chester Benjamin. The others are teenagers Lisa Narine and Brazilian Jadarson Dos Santos, and Guyanese Raymond Whyte, Melrose Allicock and Godfrey Paternella.
Regional Chairman Knights, while expressing the community distraught state, explained that the situation has exposed what Barticians have been taking for granted for so long -- the general feeling that, the recent crime situation had nothing to do with us (Barticians).
The regional administration is working with all stakeholders to ensure that immediate plans are put in place to guarantee the safety of citizens and to help those who suffered losses and injuries in whatever way possible, and continue to encourage the citizens to look ahead as together we deal with the situation. The hospital has since set up a unit to counsel those who were affected by the tragedy,Knights said.
The Regional Chairman stated that he has no clue of the motive for the massacre, but he noted that the gunmen knew their targets and exactly what they were going for. Bartica once known as the gateway to the interior and home to a population that is close to 20,000 is a village of seven avenues and nine streets. A religious community where mostly miners dwell with their families it is described as closely knit where major crimes are mainly stabbing incidents with minimal cases of fatalities as a result of criminality.
It is known also for the Easter Regatta when boaters take on each other for top honours and a beauty queen is crowned annually. But now less than a month after eleven persons were massacred at Lusignan gunmen turned their killing rampage to the quiet community on the Essequibo River.
Though residents never imagined that it would as they are geographically too far away from the many criminal happenings on the Coast, the specter of death of the worst kind has visited leaving them in mourning for friends, family, relatives and security officials.
As at yesterday the general consensus of residents from First Avenue to the four miles road was that Bartica will never be the same again.
One guest at a hotel close-by related that The shooting start about 9:30 and from then to about an hour and a half after it was bare shots licking like movie style.
Most residents upon hearing the rapid gunfire that lasted for more than an hour said they spent the night on the floor hoping that their home would not be attacked.
I aint sleep a wink till now. When the gunshots started I grab me children and hit the floor and prayed like I never did before. At one point I thought that the men were coming in me house as the sound of shots got closer. I never got up to see anything till me phone ring and people tell me that people dead and the shooting done, one woman said.
The police station that offered a sense of security to the residents is now a crime scene and is void of five of the familiar faces. Three of its ranks lay dead and two others injured.
The new scene yesterday was one where the security is the Joint Services on patrol and foot through some streets and in limited vehicles.
All matters slated for the court housed in the same compound as the police station were postponed until a date to be announced and visits to the eight schools on the mainland village proved that schools were mostly unattended.
When Kaieteur News visited the Bartica Secondary school teachers were in discussions while some served as councilors for others who were visibly moved to tears. One student from that school is nursing a gunshot wound to her knee after she knelt and begged for her life as the gunmen passed by her home.
Some openly expressed fears of going anywhere alone as well as some have decided that late night walks and hangs at the beach front are over.
Regional Chairman Knights said that the peoples main concern is that the gunmen might be hiding out on one of the nearby islands awaiting another opportunity to strike. Some openly stated that “nothing can make us comfortable at present. We are willing to support whatever the Joint Services decide to do but right now we want to sleep again, one man said. To some its just a bad dream that they can't wake up from. Some fear that the gunmen are still close by even as the Joint services was late last night mounting some serious patrols.
Reports from police sources indicate that the gunmen after their killing spree removed a sizable sum of arms and ammunition that were the property of the Guyana Police Force as well as some weaponry that belonged to miners.
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