FORTY-Two- year-old Dian Blackman, the mother of dead robbery suspect Edgar Blackman, said that she will not swear for her son as she is never with him 24/7 and was not with him early yesterday morning when bandits who were cornered chose to engage in a shootout with Police at Pioneer Lane, South Ruimveldt.Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle at her Lot 98 Tucville home yesterday afternoon, the woman said, however, that efforts should have been made by the Police to bring her son in alive since she was told that he was not armed at the time he was shot by ranks, but she reiterated that she was not there.

Dead bandit 21-year-old Edgar Blackman

“I never saw him with a weapon, with respect to the shooting this morning (yesterday) I do not know if he was in any illegal activity when he was shot by the Police, I was not there so I do not have any idea,” the woman told this newspaper.
Speaking about her son’s activities, the woman said that he had no children and was up to the time of his death working with one of the sub-contractors executing the cleanup campaign around Georgetown.
Blackman said that she last saw her son on Tuesday while she was leaving for the Georgetown Public Hospital to visit her daughter who recently gave birth. She said further that she did not see him again that day even when she got home in the evening.
This publication was told by the woman that she too works with a sub-contractor in the city cleanup and is stationed at Le Repentir. Asked how she knew about his death, the mother said that she was at home yesterday morning when one of the young man’s close friends passed by and informed that there was a shootout in South Ruimveldt and he was told that Edgar had been shot and killed but he could not confirm that information.
The woman said that she immediately began ringing her son’s phone but received no answer. She then went to the Georgetown Public Hospital to look for him but he was not there and she turned up at Lyken Funeral Parlour but was unable to find his body. Subsequently, she returned to the hospital where she saw her son’s body in the morgue.
Asked what her son was doing on the road in the wee hours, the woman explained that he would sometimes leave his home to visit his girlfriend some distance away. She then acknowledged that her son had been picked up by the Police recently and held for questioning in relation to a robbery. He was held for the stipulated 72 hours and released without any charges. Asked if she ever noticed her son with a firearm, she responded in the negative.
POLICE HAD NO RIGHT
Meanwhile, a brother of Edgar Blackman said that he is not of the view that his brother should have been shot by the Police since he was not carrying a weapon and “he was hiding in a black tank”.
Chris Carroll said: “The Police had no right to shoot my brother, he did not shoot, he was in a black tank. I never know him to be involved in any illegal activities.”
Carroll said that unlike his mother, he did see his brother at home late yesterday but the young man left before his mother returned. He said that his brother was walking out of the house at about 18:00hrs on Tuesday evening wearing a black pants, white jersey, black cap and a pair of slippers.
Meanwhile, when this publication arrived at the lot 6 Tucville Reserve home of 22-year-old Sherwaine James, also known as “2Pac”, the other suspect who was killed in the gunfight with Police, the teary-eyed relatives slammed their gates and refused reporters entry to their property.
RELATIVES DEFENSIVE
The relatives said that they were not willing to speak with the media on the issue and the reporters should approach the home of the persons who claimed that the young men were robbing them. The family also called for the head of the Police ranks that shot and killed the suspect, saying that the young man was not involved in any illegal activities.
The relatives called on the Police who shot the two young men to come forward and meet the relatives of the two young men and offer some form of explanation as to what really transpired.
The bandits yesterday morning were cornered after they had broken into a woman’s home and carried out a robbery, taking away a few items. The Police were informed and raced to the area and while reports suggested that three others got away, the two who were fatally shot had engaged in an exchange of gunfire with the Police. Police are said to be investigating the matter and are looking for the other suspects who managed to escape.
The Police recovered an unlicensed 9mm Luger pistol with 3 matching rounds and an unlicensed .38 revolver with 4 matching rounds and 2 spent shells from the perpetrators.