An
accomplice who tried to hide in a room in the restaurant after
police closed in was flushed out and taken into custody,
witnesses said.
The
two robbers died after an exchange of gunfire with a police
team from the nearby Leonora Police Station alerted to the
robbery attack by mini-bus operators.
Kaieteur
News
Police
spokesman Mr. John Sauers last night said the two men killed
were Lexroy Reene called ‘Rambo’, 18, of
Stewartville, West Coast Demerara and Vijai,
called `Two Dollars’ of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo.
One
was found dead in the kitchen area and the other about 100
yards from the scene, Sauers said.
Armed bandits have been targetting West Demerara business
people in recent months.
Gunmen,
and a gunwoman in one case, have attacked and robbed several
business owners and residents were yesterday breathing a sigh
of relief that police had finally gunned down two of them.
The
trio swooped into the Hung Choi restaurant at about 23:45 hrs
as owner Shen Qiao was about to close.
He
said the bandits had two pistols, a `big’ gun and a cutlass
and barged up to the counter demanding money.
Shen
said the robber with the cutlass chopped a friend, Jagnarine
Paul, who was with him in the restaurant.
The
owner said the attackers forced Paul to the floor of the
restaurant and then turned their attention to him.
Shen
was chopped on the head and neck and said the bandits rifled
through his cash drawer and stole $41,000.
Some
mini-bus operators in the vicinity at the time rushed to the
nearby police station and alerted cops there about the robbery
under way.
Police
from the station responded in less than five minutes,
according to Shen.
He
said police arrived as two of the bandits desperately tried to
flee while the other went into a room in the restaurant to
hide.
Cops
nabbed the one trying to hide and the other two began shooting
as they attempted to escape.
Police
returned fire and both men were shot, one of them falling into
a newly-dug pit latrine not far from the restaurant.
Shen
said he and his friend Paul were bleeding profusely from the
chops and police took them to the West Demerara Regional
Hospital where they received medical treatment and were sent
home.
However,
Paul has to get further treatment for a serious wound on a
finger.
Shen,
45, from Kuomintong, China, said he has been living in Guyana
for the past 10 years.
He
said that despite the frightening attack he will remain in
Guyana and has no plans to return to his homeland, as he likes
this country very much.
Police said two other suspects were held.
