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Gunmen storm Albion Chinese Supermarket – escape after shooting at police vehicle
It was nearly an hour of terror in the quiet village of Albion on the Corentyne when two men, reportedly armed with an AR-16 rifle and an automatic pistol, stormed the Z-One Chinese Supermarket located along the public road and robbed the proprietors of over $250,000 along with an employee’s iPhone sometime around 21:30 hrs on Saturday.
Multiple shots were fired and the sound could be heard nearly a mile away.
The entire episode that was caught on CCTV footage showed the armed men entering the supermarket from the front, then ordering a male Chinese national to lie on the ground while pointing a rifle at him. Another Chinese woman was seen crouching with a baby in her arms at the entrance.
The second gunman rushed around the counter and ordered another female Chinese national to empty the cash register. He then proceeded to the second counter and took what was also in that register. At that point, multiple shots were being fired indiscriminately by the gunman standing guard with the rifle outside, sending customers and persons in the area running for cover.
A bullet-hole in the police vehicle
A police patrol vehicle that was heading from the Albion Police Station in the direction of the supermarket was met with a hail of bullets.
At least two bullets pierced the vehicle, causing the ranks to retreat.
According to an eyewitness who was present during the entire ordeal, he was in the vicinity of the supermarket when two men entered from the front.
He stated, “there was massive shooting here causing the police vehicle to reverse back”. The eyewitness stated that despite being armed, the ranks did not return fire, but opted to wait until the men left the supermarket,
He also claimed that ranks from the Whim Station arrived half an hour after the shooting.
“The police that was on the road near the station (a stones throw away) did not come near the scene. They wait on other ranks but I ask them why dem na even shoot back, but the policeman told me that the bandits got more powerful guns.
A resident showing her zinc that was prised open by the men
The police suppose to be well trained to deal with these things, but they seemed more scared and confused more than the people that getting rob”.
He added that after the ordeal, “the men dem walked easily through the street and cut through the first cross street to the left and they were there for a while but the police did not go through the street, although people telling them the men were at the back there.”
A male employee told Kaieteur News that they were just about to close when the gunmen rushed in. He was told to lie on the ground while the robbers demanded money. “The one man come in and he tek dem two girls that working here, he telling dem bring the money in the room”.
He added that the bandit gun butted one female staff to the head and also hit one of the proprietors to the head. After taking what they could the men escaped.
Additionally, a villager reported to this publication that just minutes prior to the robbery, he noticed a vehicle with its lights off reversing through the first cross street on the left near the supermarket before parking.
Shortly after, he heard gunshots.
According to the man, “a car reverse and parked in the cross street and after the shooting, the bandits run through the said street, but the police move real slack.”
The police who came under heavy criticism from residents and eyewitnesses seemed unaware of how to approach the situation. Kaieteur News was informed by a resident living near the Supermarket that she heard noises from her back-yard, as if someone was trying to pull the zinc to enter, that information was passed on to the Police at Albion Station immediately but the ranks failed to act on it.
A senior police who was off-duty at the time attempted to offer advice to the young ranks but they opted to patrol the public road while the bandits hid in the backyard in the said cross street.
When this publication checked the fence in the resident’s back-yard, there was an opening with what appeared to be blood stains on the zinc,
“Dem binna push the gun mouth fuh open the zinc and like dem cut dem hand and rub the blood pon the zinc, because me hear the noise and dem police this had the information, but dem na act, dem really act stupid, dem cudda catch dem man dis.”
Recently Berbice has seen a spike in armed robberies and murders with little success in catching the perpetrators.
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