Linden shooting unveils a gigantic puzzle

Oct 18, 2012 Editorial

The commission of inquiry into the shooting to death of three Linden residents has raised some very interesting questions. On July 18, last, the Linden community opted to protest the proposed electricity hike mooted by the government. The protest was supposed to last for five days and came on the heels of other protests for the same cause.
It turned out that on July 18 the people, having assembled at the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge, effectively blocked the thoroughfare and this caused the police to intervene, first to clear the bridge to allow for the passage of daily traffic. By the end of the day the protest had grown in size and gunfire rang out. Three people were killed.
There were comments from the acting Police Commissioner who said that the shooting was unjustified. The Head of State condemned the shooting as did every other individual and organization. To give teeth to his expression of amazement at the shooting, President Donald Ramotar ordered an independent commission. Members of the panel came from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.
The Alliance for Change, on behalf of the victims, brought a firearm expert from the United Kingdom. Things have got very interesting since the expert delivered his expert opinion before the commission. He clearly identified the shotgun pellets that killed the three Linden residents; he spoke with the police about their armoury and found that the shotgun cartridges used at Linden had been withdrawn from the police standard armoury seven years ago.
If the police armoury where the bullets and arms are stored is properly run, then whatever is withdrawn from service would be properly stored and if any is removed then there would be a record of such removal. It would be difficult for ranks to access these cartridges and even more difficult for them to surreptitiously remove any.
However, knowing Guyana and the carefree manner in which we operate, there is nothing to stop a rank who befriends the person in charge of the armoury from entering and removing anything. We have seen policemen with guns other than their standard issue and these guns would have come from the armoury where weapons seized or confiscated by the police are stored.
If the police never had the rounds that killed the Lindeners and if, as the police have so far contended, they never shot at the protesters, then one must wonder about the identity of the persons who fired the bullets. Indeed, none of the people who testified so far has said that he or she saw the police shoot at the protesters.
If, as the people suggest, the bullets came from within the ranks of the police then people other than policemen were in the ranks. If others were in the ranks and they shot at the protesters then the police would have heard the gunshots and would have taken appropriate action. They would have known if they were infiltrated and react to the people shooting on July 18.
Since there was no reaction then those in the police ranks must have been convinced that people among them were shooting and that they were policemen. Statements have been taken from most of the ranks on duty that day in Linden and it would be interesting to see what they said. If they all denied shooting then one must wonder at the non arrest of the shooters who therefore must not have been police.
And according to the expert, the bullets that killed the three Linden residents were fired from a distance of no more than 30 yards. The shooter or shooters must therefore have been in full public view. A lot is not right and no answer seems to be forthcoming. This is going to be yet another unsolved case and pretty soon the files would be placed somewhere to gather dust.
There is another side to all this. If the police did not shoot then the State cannot be held liable for the deaths. Who then would compensate the relatives?

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Linden shooting unveils a gigantic puzzle

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