Latest update January 30th, 2025 6:10 AM
Latest News
Mandela Avenue Shooting…‘Eyewitness’ claims men in car were trailing minibus
By Javone Vickerie
A woman who claimed to have witnessed Friday’s shootout on Mandela Avenue said that the occupants of a car were trailing the minibus, and that she saw a policeman fire three shots at the bus.
The woman said that on Friday afternoon she and her nine year-old daughter boarded a minibus and when the vehicle stopped near Shirley Field Ridley Square to pick up a male passenger, a silver car followed them.
“I see this car been trailing this bus all the time and the more close the car got the bus driver speed up like if he was running from them,” the alleged eyewitness said.
She added that after some time, the driver of the car eventually overtook the minibus and blocked its path.
“The man who been in the car scream and tell the bus driver pull over, is police, but he continue driving and then they drive past and stop in the middle of the road and the driver pull a sudden brakes,” the eyewitness said.
At first the woman said that she had thought that police officers were after the bus driver but after the men approached them with cutlasses, “it was time to run”.
Lloyd Britton
“I been behind the driver and all I see is a man with a cutlass coming with a rage and I pick up me daughter and run because they look like they de coming fuh kill this man and anybody who witness it wuda go to. The men then call out the driver and we see them with cutlass and we run.”
The woman added that the driver of the car, who identified himself as a police officer, emerged and fired a number of shots. “All I heard was pow pow and I see the boy wuh been in the front seat pon the ground,” the woman said.
When this publication asked if the alleged shooter might have exchanged fire with the policeman, the woman said that the young man, just like everyone else, was trying to “run for cover”.
“I heard no gunshot coming from our side; all the bullets is the same policeman fire off.”
She, however, added that she could not say who fired the fatal shot which killed Elvis Fernandes.
Kaieteur News understands that the police constable who was in the car alleged that a passenger in the front seat of the bus shot Fernandes and that he then shot the passenger, identified as Lloyd Britton.
However, Britton is alleging that he was unarmed when the rank shot him.
The shooting occurred shortly after a minor accident which involved the two vehicles.
According to reports, a police patrol had advised the men to report the accident. However, the owner of the car, accompanied by Fernandes and a police rank, reportedly went in search of the bus driver and eventually caught up with them on Mandela Avenue.
It is alleged that the owner of the vehicle, who was armed with a cutlass, attempted to attack the driver while Fernandes attacked the conductor and was subsequently shot.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The third parties will not survive this year’s elections
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The fate of third parties in this year’s general and regional elections is as predictable... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
