Bandits invade supermarket
- neighbour captured with booty
The supermarket which came under attack.
Five armed men on Saturday night invaded Akash Supermarket at Lot 57, Number 68 Village, and fired several shots sending customers and staff running for cover.
Persaud on Sunday told reporters that he was standing outside of the supermarket with another customer, who was actually an off duty police, when at approximately 20:30 hrs, the men barged into the business.
Kaieteur News was told that five perpetrators stormed the premises; one dealt a lash to the customer, unaware that he was a police officer, and ordered him and the owner to enter the supermarket.
The men then began to discharge rounds in the entire supermarket, before one took aim at the cashier.
Upon seeing this, the cashier ran for the upper flat and locked herself in one of the bedrooms, while three of the gunmen scaled the counter and followed her.
“They didn’t come in as customers they all came in at once and Akash was standing outside when one of them went out back and pointed the gun at him and brought him in the shop. They pushed him down one time and then they grabbed his phone,” a relative recounted.
The cashier, a female relative and her baby were hiding in the upper flat when the men gained entry via the stairs.
“They kept banging on the bedroom door where we were hiding, but like their time ran out,” a relative said. The men decided to ransack the home for valuables, but eventually abandoned their search and headed back downstairs.
The dreadlocked gunman firing shots at the cashier (Image from a surveillance camera)
By that time the other two gunmen had already bagged nearly $250,000 in cash, a quantity of phone cards and two cellular phones.
The men escaped after the ordeal, but the off-duty policeman and the owner gave chase in the cop’s private vehicle and managed to apprehend one of the suspects a street away with some of the valuables on his person.
According to reports, the gunman is currently hospitalized. The apprehended suspect is reportedly a neighbour of Persaud.
The father of the detained suspect was also arrested after several pieces of camouflage clothing were found at his house.
Persons identified one of the perpetrators as a “Rastaman”.
Security footage showed the men attired in camouflage clothing, backpacks and masks. The dreadlocked gunman is seen aiming in the cashier’s direction and discharging several rounds.
Investigations are in progress.