Cops still to track down gunmen who killed bus driver, passenger

Jun 27, 2016 News

---

– Harbour Bridge suspect allegedly executed in cemetery

On the night of July 29, 2014, 40-year-old Bernadette Campbell sat in a Plaisance-bound minibus that was taking her close to home.
Campbell, who was wearing lots of gold jewellery, was sitting in the front seat, when the driver reportedly alerted her that a male passenger, who was wearing a hooded garment, was watching her.
The bus eventually stopped at the back of Plaisance. By then, only Campbell, a male passenger named Dexter Carr and the man in the hoodie were in the bus with the driver.
Dexter Carr, who was sitting next to the woman, had told Kaieteur News that the shooter followed Campbell from the city.
“She tell me it was some guy in a ‘hoodie’, so I looked around and I see a guy in a white ‘hoodie’ and I asked her if it was him and she said ‘yes’,” Carr related.
It was after the minibus stopped at the back of Plaisance, and Carr and Campbell were the only passengers left, that the gunman attacked.
Kaieteur News was told that the man in the ‘hoodie’ approached the passengers and demanded that they exit the bus. Before they could do so, the bandit opened fire, shooting Campbell in the stomach and slightly injuring Carr.
The gunman reportedly relieved Campbell of her jewellery before fleeing. Campbell was admitted to the GPHC’s High Dependency Unit, where she succumbed three months later.
The shooter was never identified.
Police are also still to track down the gunmen who killed minibus bus driver Jermaine Allister Burrowes last year.
But they believe that a third gunman, who shot a bus passenger dead on the Demerara Harbor Bridge last year, may have himself been executed.

At around 22: 00 hrs on December 15, 2015, bus driver Jermaine Allister Burrowes, 38, picked up some passengers at the Giftland Mall at Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
One woman, who lives on the East Bank of Demerara, said that the bus proceeded towards Georgetown, but shortly after, two men flagged the driver down. However, when Burrowes stopped, a passenger apparently suspected that the two men were robbers and pulled the door shut.
At that point, one of the men pointed a gun at Burrowes and shot him.
With passengers screaming and telling Burrowes to drive, the wounded man continued in the direction of Georgetown, before losing control of his vehicle and ending up in a trench.
The woman said that she lost her handbag containing her mobile phone and other valuables.
Another woman, who was sitting next to Burrowes, said that the vehicle had first left Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, and had stopped in the vicinity of Turkeyen, when she saw a man point a gun at Burrowes and shoot him.
Burrowes, of Lot 53 West Road Sparendaam, died four days later.
At around 19.00 hrs on December 26, Trevon April, 29, of High Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, was traveling in a minibus that was heading east along the Demerara Harbor Bridge when he became involved in a quarrel with another passenger.
The row between the two men began when the passenger asked April to shut a window, since it was raining.
However, April refused to close the window, since he claimed that the man, who was sitting behind him, “was smelling.”
The passenger reportedly warned April that he (the victim) didn’t know who he (the suspect) was, and reportedly mentioned the nickname ‘Gangster.’
The row reportedly continued as the bus was heading to the eastern end of the Harbour Bridge, and the driver eventually stopped and told both men to disembark.
However, after exiting the bus into the rain, April and the other man immediately rejoined the bus.
According to reports, April opened the window, while the suspect slammed it shut.
Shortly after, passengers heard a gunshot. This was followed by a second shot, which grazed Special Constable Randolph Williams.
April collapsed in the bus with a gunshot to head. The gunman, meanwhile, exited and headed on foot towards Georgetown.
Williams said that as the gunman was crossing the bridge, he shouted to some special constables manning the bridge to stop the shooter.
Kaieteur News was told that because the SCs were unarmed, all they could do was watch as the gunman walked calmly away.
April  was pronounced dead on arrival at the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital, (Diamond Diagnostic Hospital).
Crime Chief Blanhum had said that his detectives are currently reviewing CCTV footage at the Harbour Bridge with a view of identifying the shooter.
Police now believe that the gunman himself has been slain. It has been suggested that he is 28-year-old wanted man Steve Mohamed, called “Cheesy” of Alberttown, Georgetown; Kaneville and Friendship on the East Bank Demerara.
His bullet-riddled body was found in the Le Repentir Cemetery last May. Kaieteur News understands that detectives found no bullet casings at the scene. This suggests that the victim was executed somewhere else and his killers dumped his body there.
Investigators believe that the killing occurred sometime Wednesday night and his lifeless body was taken to the cemetery shortly after he was executed.
In 2015, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had issued a wanted bulletin for Mohamed in relation to investigations into the murder of Quacy Thompson which occurred at Mowasi Landing, Konawaruk.
Thompson, a miner, was reportedly involved in an argument with Mohamed during which he was stabbed and shot to his body in July 2014.
In October 2014, Mohamed appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and was charged with murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and discharging a loaded weapon to prevent a policeman from arresting him.
It was alleged that in September 2014, while armed with a gun at Mowasi Backdam, he robbed Akeem Greene of three pennyweight and 11 ounces of raw gold, $75,000 worth in phone cards and $145,000, all totaling $1,220,000.
In October of the same year, at Friendship, he discharged a loaded firearm to prevent Sergeant Leon Lindo from lawfully arresting him.
According to information received, an intelligence rank from the Guyana Police Force received information that Mohamed was hiding in a house at Friendship and went to the house in disguise. While at the house, the 28-year-old pulled out a gun and discharged rounds at the rank, who returned fire, wounding him in the process.
He was shot twice and hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Steve Mohamed was remanded to prison and he was supposed to be taken to Mahdia to answer the charges for the murder of the miner. He subsequently escaped from police custody. The following year, a wanted bulletin was issued for his arrest.
Last February, Mohamed was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $200,000 at the end of a trial that went on in his absence.
Investigations into his death are ongoing.

---

---