Terror in Agricola

Armed 15 member gang invade gas station

Three MMC guards slaughtered

 

-burn down house, set gas station afire, shoot
minibus passenger, taxi-driver

.

About 15 masked and heavily armed bandits slaughtered three MMC security guards and wounded a taxi driver during a brutal and brazen attack on the Two Brothers Gas Station 22:00 hrs last night.

MCC staff identified the dead as Loris Semple, of Buxton and Berbice, Sheldon Smartt of Sophia and Dummet of Victoria, East Coast Demerara.

Smartt, said to be about 30, was reportedly shot in the head, and Dummet in the stomach.

They were gunned down when they rushed to the gas station after receiving reports that the staff were under attack.

Set fire to the gas pumps

A passing taxi driver and a male mini-bus passenger were also wounded during the heavy barrage of gunfire, which lasted for about an hour.

The bandits also set fire to the gas pumps and tried to torch a bus that was parked at the filling station before fleeing the scene.

Not a single policeman could be seen in the vicinity of the gas station when the shooting was in progress.

Some ranks eventually arrived about an hour after the shooting had subsided and the bodies had been removed. Kaieteur News understands that the gunmen escaped with the murdered guards' pump-action shotguns.

When Kaieteur News arrived at the scene, the bodies of the murdered men lay sprawled on the ground, while some of their colleagues who arrived after the shooting wept hysterically at the sight of their slain friends.

Kaieteur News understands that at around 22:00 hrs, about 15 masked men, dressed in black clothing and armed with assault rifles, stormed the Two Brothers Filling Station.

The employees immediately sought refuge in the gas station outlet, while the gunmen began shooting indiscriminately, also setting fire to one of the fuel pumps.

Semple, Dummet and Smartt arrived at the scene while the shooting was still in progress, and were immediately attacked by the gunmen.

All three were shot at close range.

Kaieteur News arrived when the shooting was still in progress and observed two other MCC guards fleeing for their lives.

Many persons passing in vehicles while the shooting was still in progress narrowly escaped injury. Others were not so lucky.

A man who was traveling in a bus with his wife was shot after the bus driver stopped near Agricola to put off some passengers.

Although the man said that he had been wounded, persons in the bus assumed he was joking, until he collapsed against his wife.

The driver eventually took him to hospital. Passers-by also took the taxi driver who was shot to the hospital.

Last night's slaughter is reminiscent of the brazen attacks that gunmen carried out during the 2002-2003 crime wave, and which left several law enforcement personnel dead and others maimed.

Monday 02-27-2006