Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Mandela Avenue shooting…Cop’s friend was slain after he attacked bus conductor – eyewitness
Police investigations into Friday’s fatal shooting on Mandela Avenue indicate that Elvis Fernandes and a friend had attacked the occupants of a minibus shortly before Fernandes was shot.
Lloyd Britton
The investigation also indicates that Fernandes and his companions were the aggressors.
Kaieteur News had received conflicting accounts of the shooting. While a police statement indicated that Lloyd Britton, an occupant of the bus, was wounded by a police rank after shooting Fernandes, Britton is alleging that he was unarmed when the rank shot him.
The police release had also stated that Fernandes was shot in the chest, but hospital sources said that he was shot at the side of the head.
Kaieteur News understands that the car in which Fernandes and the police rank were travelling is owned by a Mandela Avenue businessman.
According to one report which was given to the police, a Norton Street resident who drives a minibus struck the car and shattered the left side mirror around 18:30 hrs on Friday. An argument ensued between Fernandes and one of the occupants of the minibus. However, ranks from a police patrol reportedly intervened and advised the men to report the accident.
The two drivers reportedly then went their separate ways.
However, it is alleged that the minibus driver was heading down Mandela Avenue shortly after when the same car, which was occupied by Fernandes and a police rank, blocked their path.
The driver of the car allegedly exited and began to attack the bus driver with a cutlass. Fernandes, meanwhile, also emerged from the car and was reportedly attacking the minibus conductor when a front seat passenger shot him.
The police rank who was with Fernandes allegedly then discharged three rounds at the passenger who had shot Fernandes.
Fernandes was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, while Britton was admitted under police guard.
Yesterday, Britton denied shooting Fernandes.
The handcuffed man told Kaieteur News that he boarded a bus on Mandela Avenue around 18:30 hrs to return home in Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara.
“I been in the front seat of the bus and I see a speeding car drive pass we and stop in the middle of the road”, Britton said.
“I see these men come walking with the cutlass towards the bus forcefully and I get out the bus fuh run and the one with the gun open fire,” Britton said. He added that the shooter, who identified himself as a police officer, discharged three rounds, one of which struck him in the chest. He also alleged that Elvis Fernandes was coming towards him with a cutlass and one of the bullets fired by the police rank also struck Fernandes.
“Three shots he fire off because he see me running and he shoot he own partner and then tell the policemen them that I shoot the man,” Britton claimed.
Britton said that during the gunfire, passengers in the minibus jumped out of the vehicle and ran for cover while he lay near the bus crying for help.
Britton said that he later learned that the men had an altercation with the driver of the minibus earlier in the day.
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