Seawall bandits were most likely executed – And this is how it all happened
(Opinion) – The killing of Errol “Dynamite” Adams, Dextroy “Dutty” Cordis, and Kwame Assanah, three suspected bandits at the Georgetown seawall on Thursday, had taken centre stage in the news for most of that day, and the next 24 hours thereafter.
As a matter of fact, every media house in Guyana practically carried the same chronicle of events regarding the story.
This was mainly because immediately after the shooting, the police had sent out a press release which provided a patterned version of what had lead to the demise of the three men.
No other direct or any real piece of investigative information was available at the time.
But even so, there are now some elements of the police’s report that were contested by family members of those killed, while various theories now abound in the public domain, relating to the true circumstances that had led to the death of the three suspected bandits
In the police version of events, the men had trailed a customer who had just left a city bank and then attempted to rob him/her during a premature stop that was made by the said customer on the Georgetown Seawall.
For most of us, the police version of the events seems pretty straightforward and consistent with the normal intents of bandits these days.
However, at the request of more than a dozen of our readers, the Guyana Guardian decided that we had to take a closer look at the incident, certainly with no prejudice.
So with the support of a retired Scotland Yard crime scene analyst, and two former detectives of the Guyana Police Force, we were able to reconstruct a possible theory on how the incident must have had unfolded, leading up to the death of the three suspects.
And our opining chronology of the incident are as follow;
8:14 am – 57-year-old Errol Adams entered the bank with the intention of scouting customers who may be making large withdrawals and looks vulnerable.
To avoid suspicion, he would have most likely made an inquiry that would require him to wait in a seating area that would have provided a reasonable view of the counters, in addition to clear audio of the money counting machines.
It is more than likely that he was making his second or third visit to the bank to do the same thing and was already flagged by bank security who notified police of their suspicions.
Hence, a sting operation would have been set up, and which entails an undercover policeman pretending to make a large withdrawal in as much that Adams would have heard the intensified counting that was being done by the machines.
Once the undercover cop seemed like an appropriate victim, Adams would have sent a text to his accomplices and notify them of a potential target.
Interestingly, the bank security cameras would have already zoomed in on his phone screen, and thus allowing them to confirm that the robbery of a customer is being planned.
The bank would have then passed that information to the police, and a full-scale operation would have gone into effect.
8:27 am – The undercover cop departed the bank with a large bag that appeared to be full of cash and entered an unmarked vehicle which already had another cop, fully armed, sitting in the back seat.
The undercover cop then drove off and was instructed by his colleagues to take the car to seawall close to police headquarters at Eve Leary and away from full public view.
This advice was heeded and the undercover cop is en route to the sea walls with the would-be-robbers, namely Adams and Assanah, in tow.
Two additional accomplices on a motorcycle are noticed but are intended to serve as transit collection agents after the robbery, so as to ensure that the money is shuttled safely (even in dense traffic) to a previously agreed location.
Hence, they would have had to wait at a pick-up point, that was close to dense traffic, and had no need to follow the targeted car.
8:41 – The targeted car with the undercover cop and presumed cash turns to the direction of the seawall via High Street Kingston and passes police headquarters, while Assanah who was the driver of the trailing car followed closely.
8:43 – As if it wanted to make an unplanned stop, the car with the undercover cop slowly came to a halt on the seawall, in the vicinity of the Guyana National Service Ground, with driver window down.
In that way, the trailing bandits would assume that the driver was alone and would be encouraged by the fact that they have a clear view of him.
Figuring that was their opportunity, Adams must have instructed Assanah to stop their car next to the targeted vehicle, from where they could have seen the driver possibly on his cell phone looking vulnerable and unaware for what was about to happen.
Thereafter, Adams then exited their vehicle with a previously concealed gun and pointed it to the driver, while demanding that he hand over the bag with the cash.
But he did not knew that there was a fully armed cop in the backseat, and who was concealed by the tinted back windows.
So while he was focused on the driver to give him the bag that was resting in the front passenger seat, the cop in the back seat fired a rung from a high caliber weapon which was possibly nozzle above a window crease, hitting Adams in the head at point-blank range, and killing him almost instantly.
At about the same time, the driver quickly unveils and pointed a gun to Assanah who was still sitting in the driver seat, and ordered him out of his car, while alerting him that he is a cop.
Assanah being unharmed and realizing that their planned robbery was botched, eagerly comply and exited his vehicle.
The cops then came out of their car, arrested Assanah and implored him to call his accomplices that were initially trailing them on a bike, or he can risk being shot.
8:46 – Adams possibly agreed and therefore called the pick-up men with the bike, while giving them the impression that the robbery was successful and that they should come to the sea wall instead and pick up the cash.
Once the call was completed, the cops would have then placed Assanah in the back seat of their car and guarded him while they lay waited on his accomplices on the bike to arrive.
8:51 – Accomplices arrived at the scene on bike and Cordis who was the pillow rider came off of the motorcycle and was visibly dismayed when he saw Adams bloodstained body on the ground.
But the rider of the bike became suspicious and immediately left the scene, practically within seconds of arriving.
At about the same time, the cops in the other car came out and shot Taylor in the upper region of his body, and he quickly fell to the ground, fatally wounded.
Removing a shocked Assanah from their car, they would have then pointed a gun at his head while he pleaded for his life to be spared.
Seconds later, a shot rang out, and a bullet pierced his skull, sending him crashing to the ground like the two men before him.
8:54 – The scene was then staged to appear as if two or three rounds were fired from the gun that was being carried by Adams.
For the two undercover cops, putting the men on trial would have offered no guarantee of a conviction for criminals that ought to be off of the streets.
In their view, executing them was certainly the best option since it will send a clear message to others, and possibly bring an end to a long list of after bank robberies.
8:58 – Senior investigators descended upon the scene, and advised the two undercover cops to leave.
9:34 – A press release is prepared and reviewed by the senior operatives of the Guyana Police Force.
10:14 am – the Press release was sent off to the various media houses, as the process of shaping public opinion began.
⊕ Conclusion
While the above is nothing more than the reconstructed theory of three respected retired detectives, the chronology of events is not necessarily one to believe.
But then again, if there was a shootout, why were all of the men shot in the head at point-blank range?
Who was the person or persons that were being trailed from the bank, and why did the police choose to simply send them away without taking a detailed statement?
If the men on the bike that had came after the first shooting had ended, carried no weapon (according to the police), then why was one of them still shot in the head and chest at point-blank range?
Why two of the men that were killed (in the big shootout) fell so close to the car, but yet not a single gunshot mark was on the said car?
A picture can tell a thousand words.
And from the looks of the entire cache of crime scene photographs that were provided by the police and the public at large, a retired Scotland Yard detective (asked for name to be withheld) is adamant that the crime scene is telling a completely different story from what is being told by the police.
In his opinion, while there might be no doubt that the men were probably in the process of committing a crime, there is no assuring theory that any of the men had engaged the police.
In his view, the men were possibly summarily executed.
Interestingly, one of two retired detectives from the Guyana Police Force admitted that from his experience, the crime scene indeed seems to be one that was staged.
However, I am not the expert here.
For me, I offer no sympathy for many of the resulting endgames for criminals who prey upon the innocence of the public.
But at the same time, I do not support extrajudicial killings in any form.
That being said, I will urge the Guyana Police Force to formulate a much better story, so that we the members of the public can have a rather satisfactory explanation as to what had really happened during their confrontation (if any) with the three suspected bandits at the Georgetown Seawall, on Thursday.
About the Author: Dennis E. Adonis is an investigative writer at the world’s most powerful news blog – the Huffington Post, and also serves as the Editor in Chief at the Guyana Guardian. He has written more than 20 published books.
