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Shot 19-year-old accused of stealing GT&T cable
…victim says he was targeted
A 19-year-old man is in a stable condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital Co. (GPHC) after he was shot in the chest during the alleged theft of Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) cables at Coverden, East Bank Demerara.
Alton Straker receiving treatment at GPHC
Alton Straker is nursing a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest.
According to police information, Straker, of Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara, “was shot by personnel from a Private Security Service responding to a report of persons stealing GT&T cable at Coverden, East Bank Demerara.”
The police said that two men were confronted and during efforts to arrest them, one of the men was shot and injured to his chest, while his accomplice managed to escape. They said investigations are in progress.
Straker stated, however, that he was targeted by his shooter. The lad believes that he was shot by a member of a community policing group and not by security personnel. He alleged that the men followed him and his friends before opening fire on him.
Straker, at the hospital yesterday, said that he was returning from the city with two other friends.
He claimed that around 21:00hours on Wednesday he got together with three friends and hung out at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) until midnight. He said that one friend left and the others decided to get their bicycles and “make a day break”.
He explained that they rode their bikes to Georgetown from Soesdyke and spent some time on the seawall before starting back for home.
By this time, the day was dawning, Straker said. He said that when he and his friends arrived in Coverden, they saw a white van which started to follow them. He said they took it for nothing and continued on their course.
Straker said that he stopped to urinate while his friends continued to ride on. That is when the van started speeding toward him and when it pulled up two men jumped out and one shouted “freeze”. On seeing the gun, Straker said he started to run but the man shouted again and threatened to shoot, so he decided to stop and he turned around to face the men.
He said the man with the gun told him to put his hands in the air and he did. He said the man told him to put his hands higher, while the other person kept shouting, “Shoot he, shoot he”. Straker said the man with the gun then shot him and he fell to the ground.
“He started saying ah ketch he, he get knock,” Straker related. The two men then threw him in their van and took him to the Timehri Police Station where he was kept for more than an hour. Straker said that despite pleas, they refused to take him to the hospital. He said the men finally placed him in their vehicle and the next thing he recalled was waking up at GPHC.
Doctors said that Straker would be kept at the hospital. It appeared as if the teen was not under police watch.
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