Guyana Shooting Claims 11 lives.

Guyana shootings claims 11 lives - Saturday, January 26, 2008

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Gunmen stormed into a coastal village early Saturday and shot dead 11 people, the president said, in escalating violence blamed on a gang leader who has threatened widespread attacks.

The killings in Lusignan marked the deadliest massacre in this small South American nation in 30 years and came hours after gunmen attacked police headquarters in the capital, firing indiscriminately and wounding two guards.

Three children were among the dead in Lusignan, seven miles east of Georgetown, the capital.

"(This) could not have been done by human being but rather by animals," President Bharrat Jagdeo said as he prepared for meetings with security officials and the military. He said he would go to the village to meet with grieving relatives later in the day.

On Wednesday night, suspected gang members killed a Guyanese soldier during a gunbattle in Buxton, a village located two miles from Lusignan.

Police and government officials say they suspect a gang led by Rondell Rawlins, a former Guyanese soldier, is behind the violence. Rawlins has accused security forces of kidnapping his pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend days ago and police say he threatened to carry out attacks until she is found. Police said they are probing the woman's disappearance.

Rawlins is accused of being a crime boss since 2002, and blame him for the April 2006 slaying of Agriculture Minister Satyadeo Sawh -- a murder that authorities said was aimed at destabilizing this former Dutch and British colony.

In 1978, the American cult leader Jim Jones exhorted his followers to drink cyanide-laced grape punch in Jonestown -- a Guyana settlement named for him. Babies were killed by squirting it into their mouths with syringes. Most adults were poisoned, some forcibly. Some were shot by cult security guards. Hours later, 912 of Jones' followers were dead. So was Jones, found with bullet wound in his head, whether it was suicide or murder is unknown.
Courtesy of Yahoo! News

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Guyana shooting rampage kills 11

Gunmen in Guyana have gone on a rampage, killing 11 people, including at least three children.

The gunmen stormed into a village east of the capital, Georgetown, and fired into several houses.

It was reported to be the worst mass killing in the South American country for more than 30 years.

Officials suspect the attacks may have been launched by a criminal gang on the orders of the country's most wanted man, Rondell Rawlins.

Police say Rondell Rawlins, a former Guyanese soldier, has accused government forces of kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend, and has threatened to launch attacks until she is returned.

Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo deplored the attack, in the village of Lusignan, east of the capital Georgetown.

"[This] could not have been done by human beings, but rather by animals," Mr Jagdeo said.

Screaming on streets

Divisional Police Commander Leroy Brummel said unidentified gunmen kicked down the doors of five wooden houses in Lusignan, shooting at inhabitants within.

The dead include a man, his wife and their granddaughter in one house, and a mother and her two children in another, news agency AFP reported.

"They didn't come here to rob, they came here to slaughter," a resident, Jag Singh, told AFP.

Local people screamed and wept on the streets of the village.

Hours earlier, heavily armed gunmen had also attacked the headquarters of the Guyana police force, injuring two policemen.

On Wednesday, in the criminal haven of Buxton, east of Georgetown, gunmen engaged Guyanese soldiers in a firefight that left one soldier dead and another seriously injured.

Police said Rondell Rawlins himself had made telephone threats following the disappearance of his 18-year-old girlfriend.

He is reputed to head a gang of about 20 heavily armed men engaged in "urban warfare."
Courtesy of BBC News



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This was earlier news. I need to get the update. In earlier news 11 persons were dead and 2 hospitalized. However, the two that were hospitalized died. So in all its 13 of which 7 children included.

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In my own words.
Around 2 am this morning 25 heavily armed bandits entered 5 houses shooting everyone in the household. 13 persons died including 7 children (smallest 2 yrs old). This was no robbery it was a brutality act. Just enter and shoot.

Residents in the ECD villages blocking roads. Lighting tires and putting sand on the road way.

One resident said, "I called the police soon the bandit entered the first house and he gave me another number to call"
Another one said,"the police took 1 hour to arrive when everything is finished"

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When the rest is on the internet I'll post it.

Its really sad.

That's horrible. I wish all the mindless brutality would just stop but there seems to be something in human nature that makes us murder each other. It's ridiculous that the person called the police and was referred to another number! That shows that they don't care about their job. In an emergency people don't have time to be taking down and dialing other numbers. It's a shame to call some of them police, and they're supposed to be protectors.

And how is shooting and murdering random people going to help him find his girlfriend????

"It was reported to be the worst mass killing in the South American country for more than 30 years. "

Wow.

This is very sad and tragic to hear... I don't know what to say except that I am at a loss for words.. My heart goes out to the victim's families...

What a f$%^*#g shame......You know is s#$%t like this does mek bannas geh parched....>>sucksteeth<<

wtf? i was read dis ****!! freakin ******* bull

stupid asses yo :<

I refuse to comment on this heartless act from these stupid (censored [xxx] beeep)....[Please stay tuned we're having technical difficulties]...

Well for the well being of the rest of the members this site has. Seriously now i've talked about it too much yesterday and i am just pissed and i don't blame those ppl into doing what they did yesterday cos if it would've went the other way (use your head on this n try to get what i'm sayin)...things would've been more worst.

N.B Don't get me wrong but if some of you ppl minds are so low into thinkin that when i said for the well being of the rest of the members has anything to do with racism....don't get beside yall self cos it doesn't. And mind you this is just an eye opener for 'those' ppl...just in case and if i have to return to this thread i will try to maintain my obscenities.

But tell me this...why...oh why would you kill poor ppl....come on now and they're decent easy going individuals that are so humbled and friendly that if you go there n ask for some food n water they'll give it to you its just an heartache to see all those ppl die...well i know my heart sank when i saw children and a nice girl thats only 12 budday ow it had this very poor family that had a nice simple home and were gunned down just for what? Nothing.....and it's so sad to have known that the same family (mother 9yr old daughter and the father) decided in their last moments to pray and their altar was couple feet away from them yet those......ugh lemme don't say nun'n....its just inhuman... And to see all those ppl grieve is just tragically sad yesterday.

f^&$*n police >>sucksteeth<< sayin call this number....sayin wrong number....sayin there is no vehicles at the base...sayin there is no backup...and even asking the ppl 'how they know is bandit' I mean is wuh muddas*&%t is this rite? Bai is rite wuh them ppl seh tho is best they give we d damn gun n done or bring back roger khan and gajraj....cos although roger khan is do drugs n sh*t he was still a mad man that nobody use to cross and he always were for the ppl...the is a serious man.


>>sucksteeth<< Look i ain't a racist...i hate racist amongst other things and well i'm not saying all dem black ppl in guyana bad but some o dem does really piss me off cos despite that crazy **** that went on in the wee hours of the mornin when dawn came n i went in the market that very mornin the majority of em d skinnin they teeth and sharma and the other jackass joey jagan is a bunch o s*&^t an all waaaaannn set o sh*t them talking >>sucksteeth<< bai anytime i see he on he bike i gon shy a fickin bottle n buss he blasted head cos he is just a schupit clown and sharma talkin he own story as far as i'm concerned...is good dem ppl bax up n ups all dem ministers the same one benn if you know how long i de want somebody bax he rass and the same one sheik baksh anyways benn came to realization n burst into tears so there is some human in him after all.

The president n all...well you can't blame him really is the damn police and their cowardness...i mean for 20 - 30 mins no one? Not a single soul? All because o fineman pregnant 19 yr old gf? 11 Innocent poor, decent, humbled ppl that don't do nobody nun'n gah perish? >>sucksteeth<< bai if i see she walkin the road now i would bax she s*&^t cos is all because o she this thing happen who knows she might be afraid, already had the baby n hiding from he or the police musse gat she for real or dem men musse kill she sponge.

I'ma go n do something rather than "thinking" since it hasn't done me good for 13 months.


Bare Ignorance in this place....so much for not commenting rite?

See Story on: http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56537783

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56537792

Some members in here might not be able to look at this.
http://www.kaieteurnewsgy.com/ <<<< I couldn't take it.

http://www.guyanachronicle.com/

Hmm... very tragic indeed. Redd everyone feels your frustration. We as Guyanese have to be careful not to add fuel to the fire. The bandits want to stir up racial tension in Guyana and create disorder, I see no other motive for this brutal act, and they are succeeding it seems. Its easy for us to point fingers when our gut reactions take over... people are mad, everyone is mad... but we gotta look at what is best for the country. I have seen both Afro and Indo Guyanese condemn this act. It is disgusting and those responsible should be brought to justice. Note how I said THOSE RESPONSIBLE. We don't need to be lumping everyone into the same category because of the acts of those few deranged individuals. And they have to be deranged to do what they did... attack innocent poor people who have done nothing to them. Its a pity that the government is not doing more... had they taken preventative measures to secure Guyana, this terrible crime might not have to happened. Its a real eye opener. I really wish the Guyanese government would accept the help being offered by international countries, we really do need it. I don't want to see a repeat of what happened in the 1960s.. the tension is just boiling over and I can see a lot of people are furious... if the government does not get the situation under control the people might just take matters into their own hands and chaos might ensue. Well that is the worse case scenario, and I pray it doesn't happen.

dass real messed up man..i feel so srry fer da families
whoever did this need sum serious help

Beverly89 wrote:

See Story on: http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56537783

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_general_news?id=56537792

Some members in here might not be able to look at this.
http://www.kaieteurnewsgy.com/ <<<< I couldn't take it.

http://www.guyanachronicle.com/

Oh my God. I hope they catch everyone involved and they get what they deserve. I really don't know what else to say. I agree with everything that Mrs Pharaoh said.

Guyana has worsen.
I have lately heard tha 5 potesters were shot up Berbice by police. I don't know how true it is.

Gas (cant remember the gas name) was throw over a school (I don't know the school name) and a large amount of students r in hospital.

I fed up looking at news. I can't take it anymore. I'm scared to go in Georgetown.

I was watching news and the guy who came back from Trinidad was crying. He lost his wife and his child.

Its alot of confusion.

That mon amie would be tear gas you're referring to.

I did know but I didn't know how to spell it. I know I'm weird. If I don't know how to spell a word, I won't write/type it. I did some research but didn't find it. But r u sure its not "Teer"? Just suggesting. Thank you.

Lol i don't know but i spelled it that way cos it does bring tears to your eyeballs lol...sigh ow lord beverly i know you're just suggesting it but yeah you are weird for not typing it you should've put both or say don't know how to spell it like u did lol as long as ppl get what you're sayin

Beverly89 wrote:

I did know but I didn't know how to spell it. I know I'm weird. If I don't know how to spell a word, I won't write/type it. I did some research but didn't find it. But r u sure its not "Teer"? Just suggesting. Thank you.

Nopez, he's right. It's spelled tear.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night after seeing those pictures. I didn't think it would bother me so much but every time I closed my eyes to sleep I saw them. From the way the blood was smeared in the pictures it doesn't look like they died right away. I can't even imagine the pain they must've felt, I keep picturing them in pain though... they suffered.

Thank you.

Flame_Angel, my friend Adrial was trying to call me that morning to tell me unfortunately, I was still asleep. When I got up my parents already went out and came back home and given the bad news. When I saw the news on the television I cried. And I was scared to go to work that morning.

Everything is in God's hand. I put my trust in him.

Updates:

Fineman’ calls Kaieteur News...
‘Tell dem ah want meh wife back... ALIVE!!!
* admits to Lusignan massacre
* denies killing ‘Sash’ Sawh
* says he will create history

A man purporting to be Rondell “Fineman” Rawlins, Guyana’s most wanted, has admitted responsibility for Saturday’s massacre in which eleven persons from Lusignan, among them five children, were slaughtered in a pre-dawn raid.
The man has also threatened to create history if his “wife” is not returned alive.
In several telephone calls to publisher of Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall, and Editor-in-Chief Adam Harris yesterday afternoon, the caller, whom this newspaper believes is indeed Rawlins, said that he is giving “them” a few days breathing space to see whether the teenager, Tenisha Morgan, 19, is returned to her home. Failing this, there would be another attack that would make the Lusignan massacre pale into insignificance.
“Rawlins”, on the pleadings of both Lall and Harris, gave his commitment not to hurt any children this time around, and claimed that since his “woman” and his child had been taken away, he had responded that way.
Emphatically stating that the child is his “f…ing seed”, the man said that he is not going to let it go like that, and the Guyana Defence Force “is not going to able with it”.
“Rawlins” was particularly upset that he had been accused in the murder of former Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh, something he denied vehemently and pointed out that he is blamed for almost every crime that happens in Guyana.
“Jah Rastafari know I had nothing to do with the Minister (Sawh) killing, they just trying to put that on me. Imagine dey got four or five crime happening every day and dey blaming me fuh all. How the f… I could be everywhere at the same time?”
During the initial call, which came to Lall through the switchboard of the newspaper at around 15:00 hrs, a power outage terminated the call.
The publisher immediately called a meeting of senior reporters and editors, including Harris, to decide how to deal with the story.
“Rawlins” called back about 20 minutes later and, speaking with Lall and Harris, accused well-known individuals, whom he said were part of the “phantom,” of kidnapping his “woman” to get back at him for Minister Sawh’s murder.
Naming three persons whom he is adamant know about the whereabouts of his “woman”, the caller was convinced that his “wife” did not just decide to go off on her own, but was kidnapped.
“Rawlins” claimed that he had been with her for four years, and had his wife decided to leave, she would have called him. “She would have avoided this slaughter; she would not have allowed me to bring this heat on myself.”
“Rawlins” also claimed he had checked all the hospitals, airport and even in Suriname and Barbados, so he is convinced that his “wife” had been kidnapped. He said that she could not be in Suriname and Barbados, where he has “people,” and someone not call him. The man also slammed the police, who he said have not done anything substantial to find his “wife”.
He said that they failed to even take a statement from the vendor. This angered him more. But the police said that they have a statement from the woman.
He noted that there were reports that he had sent eight men to question a vendor who was said to be the last person to see her.
According to “Rawlins”, he had only sent one man, and had it been a case that he really wanted the vendor, she would have been placed in a car trunk and taken to him.
“Dey seh I send eight men to that vendor. If I de send eight men to she, they woulda bring she back in a car trunk.”
“Rawlins” said he knew the vendor lived in Plaisance.
Yesterday, in an effort to seek continued contact with the caller, both Lall and Harris provided him with their mobile numbers.
On Sunday, the Joint Services, in a statement, denied that it has Morgan in its custody.
The Joint Services said it wished “to categorically state that neither the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Prison Service, nor the Guyana Fire Service has Tenisha Morgan of Friendship/Buxton, ECD, in their possession.”
The statement added that persons who suggested that the Joint Services were in possession of Morgan were “being extremely mischievous.”
The release also stated that the Police Force is continuing investigations into the missing person report made, with the view of locating Morgan.
The pregnant teen is believed to have been kidnapped after she vanished mysteriously on January 18, and has not been seen since.
“Rawlins” said that some men were drinking in the vicinity of the East Coast Demerara Car Park and they saw his “wife”. He accused them of sending a taxi after the car in which she travelled.
Rawlins is wanted for several murders, and police have issued a $30M reward for his capture.
Kaieteur News had previously reported that Tenisha Morgan left her Friendship/Buxton, East Coast Demerara home on Janaury 18 to go to a private city hospital after she experienced labour pains.
Morgan’s cousin, Althea Hills, who lives in Kitty, says that she was to have accompanied the teen to the hospital.
According to Hills, Morgan caught a bus from Buxton, and later called from Georgetown to say that she would travel by taxi to her (the cousin’s) home in Kitty.
Hills says that she waited for her cousin but she never turned up.
She added that she dialled the number from which Morgan had called, but an individual who identified herself as a vendor answered.
Hills says that the ‘vendor’ claimed that she saw Morgan enter a taxi after making the call. The woman says that she and other relatives visited several city hospitals but failed to locate Morgan.
Subsequent to her disappearance, a man claiming to be Rawlins, also known as Fine Man, made several calls to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) warning them to turn over his woman or face the consequences.
Two days ago, Morgan’s mother, Waple Morgan, reported that someone purporting to be her daughter sent a text message claiming to be alright and informing that the baby was fine.
A source close to the investigations said that the police have been able to trace the phone from which the text message was sent, and they have someone in custody.
Those dead from Saturday’s massacre are Shazam Mohamed; Clarence Thomas; his son, Ron, 11, and daughter, Vanessa 12; Mohandai Gourdat, 32, and her two children, Seegobind, four years old, and Seegopaul Harilall, 10; Shalem Baksh, 52; Rooplall Seecharan, 56, his daughter, Raywattie Ramsingh, 11, and his wife, Dhanrajie, called Sister, 52.
The injured are Howard Thomas, 19; Nadir Mohamed, 48; and Roberto Thomas, five.
Most of the dead were shot in their stomachs and were left lying in pools of blood that covered most of the floors of their modest homes.
The killings have prompted a number of protests in the normally quiet village of Lusignan. These protests have spread to Mon Repos and then to West Berbice.
Several persons were arrested and infrastructure was damaged during the protests, which started on Saturday.

redcabal wrote:

All because o fineman pregnant 19 yr old gf? 11 Innocent poor, decent, humbled ppl that don't do nobody nun'n gah perish? >>sucksteeth<< bai if i see she walkin the road now i would bax she s*&^t cos is all because o she this thing happen

^^O yea I was gonna comment on this but I forgot. I don't know if u meant that or ur temper was high that day but u can't exactly blame her for what happened. Him and his people were the ones that decided to kill all those people not her. If the same thing happened to many other (sane) men, they wouldn't react the same way. Who knows what happened to her. If he's such a madman, she could be hiding from him to protect herself, as well as protecting her baby from turning out like that.[/url]

The whole gf thing is ridiculous. Flame_Angel is right. We can't blame the girl. She is not responsible for the killings, him and his gunmen are. She was just used as a cover up for his real motive: to start an uprising and destabilize the country by bringing Guyana's ethnic tensions to the surface, by the looks of it its working. I mean if this really is about the girlfriend, why doesn't he go after the people he 'thinks' kidnapped his girlfriend? Instead of going after them he chose poor families in a predominantly Indian neighbourhood.... its clear that he had alternative motives than just avenging his gf's kidnapping. But I'm not going to give him credit for anything, lets just say he's a stupid fellow, and after reading the article from Kaieteur yesterday, I am even more convinced of this. Look how it has impacted Guyanese people so much. It has angered a lot of people. Its caused a lot protesting, and because of this issue many PPP supporters are now seeing how incompetent the government are based on how they are currently handling the situation.

Another thing I wanna comment on is the way the police force are treating protestors. The people want justice, they are fed up. What right do the police have to shoot (with rubber bullets), beat, throw tear gas on, and jail peaceful protestors? Yea the protestors might be angry, which they have a right to be, but they aren't stealing, they aren't looting, and aren't being violent, at least not from the footage I have seen. The police respond to this by beating on protestors?? I don't see the point of this unnecessary use of force.

No no uh uh.

This whole thing started cos of that same woman dee. Cos she went missing from the 18th of January and he thinks the joint forces kidnapped her to get at him but like i said they refused these sayings. Never the less it is all about his gf cos he called in at them before this whole episode of blood spewing and what not n gave em a warnin that if he doesn't get back his gf he gon cause havoc in this place...which was exactly what he did. He thinks phantom got the girl man.

So believe it or not it's that.

As for the flames post....well i already said she might be hiding from him...already had the baby blah blah but none the less she knows what he's capable of and since she hasn't turn up or said anything to him which implies she's either hiding, kidnapped or dead...he set a foot to what he promised that given time. I was frustrated that day cos if you only saw what i saw you would've done the same...but when all's said and done it's all about fineman wanting his woman and baby back.

The same as Redd typed.

While she and her ppl r safe other ppl r getting killed.

blah blah blah...pack of crazy ppl.....now listen.............this whole thing started becose one day fineman woman is sah pose to deliver a baby but she get kidnapped.......and then fineman went into lusignaan along with 24 other ppl or more for one purpose to kill.....and then couple days after he demanded he want her back becose he thought join services had her but they dont have her and ifneman said if they dont find her...he will continue killing.............ppl this is all becose of the girl make he is killing.........this killings has no other reason.. she is the cause most obviously...think about it...he said if she was not found ..hell kill more....meaning he is killing becose of her.. duhhh

Andy andy behave yuh rass deh

Oh yeah dee i think he made that devastating move to poor ppl cos they're an easy target for em. Marinate on this alittle...i mean he made this move cos they're vulnerable since they are poor and ain got that much protection so in his illusive mind which i might say is very #%$^ed made it happen. He made his point there.

He assumes phantom got the girl man roger khan ppl Gajraj ppl (mad set o ppl wuh thief man don't get beef with)....but this whole racial thing..was never gone. I mean its been on the low for the longest i can remember but you could've always felt the tension...believe me. It was only a matter of time since something like this would've happened (not the massacre but you know...). but triggered this whole predicament guyana is in.

But he did target indian ppl showing that the racial thing nah gon stop atalll in this place.

Important points:

"Fineman’ calls Kaieteur News...
‘Tell dem ah want meh wife back... ALIVE!!!
* admits to Lusignan massacre
* denies killing ‘Sash’ Sawh
* says he will create history"

"The man has also threatened to create history if his “wife” is not returned alive."

He did all of this to find his wife...

"“Rawlins” also claimed he had checked all the hospitals, airport and even in Suriname and Barbados, so he is convinced that his “wife” had been kidnapped. He said that she could not be in Suriname and Barbados, where he has “people,” and someone not call him. The man also slammed the police, who he said have not done anything substantial to find his “wife”."

And many more points.

Oh he is a madman I agree.. but I still feel he has political motives, and yea it was racial. Its sad Guyana has come to this.. I thought we were moving forward but the racism is always there.