A 38-year-old mother of three at Number 69 Village, Corentyne was shot during an attempted robbery around 11:15 pm on Monday and is said to be in a serious condition at the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Farmer found dead Courtney-Benn

A man was taken into custody in connection with the shooting.

The woman, Vedowattie Khelawan called "Vedo" was rushed to the Skeldon Hos-pital Emergency Room and immediately transferred to the New Amsterdam hospital. Emergency surgery was performed to remove the bullet that was lodged in her left hand.

The bullet entered her right rib cage, passed through her lungs and lodged in the left hand. Relatives said the doctor told them that the bullet hit a bone in the woman's hand causing a part of the bullet to be shattered in the process.

Khelawan was at the time a guest at a wedding celebration in front of her home. She saw relatives running out on the road after hearing that "bandits were in the area" and she decided to join them.

Sal Persaud who came from New York with his family for the wedding said one of the guests had gone to a relative, Hemchand Dulchand's house, obliquely opposite the wedding house to use the washroom when he noticed two persons walking in Dulchand's yard.

He said the guest immediately ran back to the wedding house and informed Dulchand's eldest brother, Mahendra and the two decided to give chase. Dulchand and other male guests realized something was wrong and they joined the two in an attempt to pursue the bandits.

He said another bandit seemed to be hiding nearby and fired the two shots to prevent them from pursuing his accomplices. "After the second shot fire ah hear Vedo say, 'ow me get shoot.'" He said he saw her lying on the ground, bleeding and they rushed her to the hospital.

By the time a licenced firearm holder could retaliate the bandits had already fled the scene.

Dulchand said the men "pushed down" his zinc fence, ran into an empty lot and jumped a resident's fence and escaped. He said he did not think the bandits intended to rob his house.

"To me dem just hide in me yard fuh wait until me go home to hold me hostage and rob the people at the wedding house where the overseas guests de staying."

Sixty-nine-year-old Sasenarine Ramtahall whose son had come from New York and had gotten married on Sunday told this newspaper he was sleeping at the time of the incident.

He said he was awakened after the music had stopped and persons were shouting that "Vedo get shoot."

He said when he looked out he saw two persons running through a yard. The police arrived within 20 minutes but the bandits had already beaten a hasty retreat and relatives had already taken Khelawan to the hospital.

He said for a few days during last week a resident who was known to have committed several crimes in the area rode his motorcycle slowly in front of his [Khelawan's] house and kept looking in as he was talking on his cell phone. The man was arrested by the police yesterday.

Relatives are disappointed that the military unit, based at Number 62 Village, which would normally patrol the area every night and pick up persons who are found loitering did not stop that night to "clear the road."

They said, "When the president come to New York he encourages us to come back home and visit but we are not coming back because we do not feel protected." They feel licenced firearms should be given to more business persons in the area to take control of the crime situation.

Further, the residents plan to block the road to protest over the upsurge of crime in the area. "We want the president to come and address the situation," they said.