Murdered TSU rank…Suspect detained

Sep 25, 2013 News

Police have detained a 27-year-old Kitty resident suspected to be the gunman who killed Tactical Services Unit rank Michael Cumberbatch on Monday night.

TSU rank Michael Cumberbatch

But investigators are reportedly looking at two possible motives for the execution-style killing.
Kaieteur News understands that the suspect was arrested at around noon yesterday near the West Bank Demerara end of the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
Police had reportedly tracked the suspect to the area after being tipped off that he was staying at a friend’s home at La Grange, West Bank Demerara.
The man, whose hair was braided, was reportedly dressed in the same clothing-—an orange-coloured shirt and grey pants—that eyewitnesses said that he was wearing when he shot Cumberbatch.
Kaieteur News understands that the suspect, who was previously charged with armed robbery, admitted that he was in the North Sophia area on Monday night, but denied that he had shot Constable Cumberbatch.
He is likely to be placed on an identification parade today.
Two associates of the suspect were also taken into custody yesterday. Police had detained three other individuals on Monday night, but it is unclear whether they are still in custody.
Kaieteur News understands that detectives have received reports that the gunman shot Cumberbatch because he believed that the policeman was having a relationship with his wife. However, some police sources have suggested that the assailant may have mistaken Cumberbatch for another policeman who also lives in Sophia.
Residents have told investigators that they saw the suspect “walking up and down” in the North Sophia area on Monday prior to the murder, and that the suspect had been enquiring about someone called ‘Quacy.’
But the slain policeman’s wife, Lillian Cumberbatch, provided another motive, when she told Kaieteur News that she found a threatening note that someone had written to her husband. Mrs. Cumberbatch said that she located the note yesterday while searching in the couple’s car for her spouse’s identification card.
According to Mrs. Cumberbatch, the note stated ‘you come with your boys on my turf and shoot up and make my boys run, and I will make you lame.’ Someone had written a phone number, and the word ‘killer’ at the back of the note, she said. Mrs. Cumberbatch said that she has handed the note over to the police.
Mrs. Cumberbatch told Kaieteur News that her husband and members of the ‘bike squad’ had gone on a raid in Sophia some time ago. She suggested that the individuals that the ranks had targeted were behind his death.
Recounting the events leading to her husband’s death, the woman said that she was at home with her husband and children on Monday night when someone rapped at the door and asked for ‘Quacy.’

The murdered man’s home.

The woman said that she told the visitor, whose hair was braided, that no one by the name of ‘Quacy’ lived there, and the visitor left.
But she said that the man returned ten minutes later and again banged on the door while asking for ‘Quacy.’ By this time, the family had gone to bed.
Mrs. Cumberbatch said that she looked outside and observed that the visitor appeared to be drunk. She told her husband what she had observed, and Cumberbatch went outside to the visitor and ordered the man to leave.
According to her, the stranger asked “who you talking to?”… “and then Michael (Constable Cumberbatch) said ‘what you got in your hand?’ She then heard gunshots.
On looking outside, Mrs. Cumberbatch said that she saw her husband lying on the ground and the alleged killer fleeing the scene.
The wounded policeman was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed.
Mrs. Cumberbatch said that she had always been apprehensive about living in North Sophia, but her husband would reassure her that she was safe.
“He would say there is nothing to be afraid of. I am a policeman and people respect me.”