Four hijackers captured in police shoot-out after locking taxi driver in car trunk

Aug 19, 2022 News

….had robbed several persons during spree

Kaieteur News – A shootout on Thursday along Mandela Avenue Georgetown ended with police capturing four hijackers who had locked a taxi driver in his car trunk.

Three of the captured carjackers, Rawle Franklyn, Hamza Samuels and Emanuel Hale.

One suspect in custody later confessed to the crime and named a fifth carjacker who remains at large.

Two of the carjackers, one of them a known character to Police, Rawle Franklyn and his accomplice Andrew Newyer were shot and injured while the others, Emanuel Hale, 18, and Hamza Samuels were found hiding in a nearby yard.

After nabbing the armed suspects the ranks searched the car and found Joshua Singh, its owner locked inside

According to police, ranks had received a tip off around 02:59hrs that persons inside a white Toyota Allion PSS 2705 had robbed someone on Lamaha Street, Goergetown.

Gun Found at a West Ruimveldt house

the illegal gun found at the crime scene

Patrol ranks in pick-up from the Georgetown police district were dispatched immediately to track down the car.

One of the patrol units spotted the vehicle, driving along the Agricola Access Road on the East Bank of Demerara.

The ranks trailed the car until it reached Two Brothers Gas Station but when they tried to intercept the vehicle it sped off.

Ranks reportedly chased behind in their pick-up. As the chase continued on Mandela Avenue, the driver of the car lost control and it crashed into barriers along the road.

The car stopped and four men exited and began running away, police reported. Ranks pursued but were confronted by gunshots from the suspects. One of the policemen reportedly returned fire and other patrol units pulled up just in time to offer back-up.

The illegal ammunition and suspected ganja found at one of the suspect’s mother’s home at Sophia

After the gunfire died down the ranks canvassed the area and found Franklin lying on the grass parapet and bleeding from gunshot wounds while an injured Newyer was found in a nearby yard. Ranks continued searching the area and located Hale and Samuels hiding in another yard close by. The ranks also found a 9MM pistol and a magazine containing three live matching rounds, the police report added.

With the carjackers captured, ranks transported the shot Franklin and Newyer to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for treatment while Hale and Samuels were taken into their custody.

They then proceeded to search the car and apart from finding a number of suspected stolen items inside, a female purse, a laptop and eight cellular phones, they stumbled upon Singh, its owner locked in the trunk.

Singh told the lawmen that the men had hijacked the car from him while he was seated inside at Shamo Taxi Base at Vryheid’s Lust, Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara. He recalled that three men approached him and one of them placed a gun to his head, ordering him to step outside of the car. Singh told police that he was afraid of being shot and obeyed. The carjackers then reportedly instructed him to enter the trunk and they locked him inside.

Singh recounted that during his journey in the car trunk, it stopped once and he heard talking.

It drove off again and then the journey ended abruptly after he heard the car hit into something. A few seconds later he heard loud explosions and when it stopped ranks rescued him.

Investigators later reported that they grilled Hale and Samuels who gave police a detailed confession and named a fifth suspect, Romario, the driver of the stolen car who had managed to escape.

Hale said that he was picked up from a location at Kitty Public Road by Samuels, Franklin and Newyer in the car driven by Romario Hudson called “Mario”.

Hudson reportedly drove them to Vryheid’s Lust. Hudson, Franklyn and Samuels were all armed with hand guns, exited leaving him and Newyer behind and approached a white car parked in front of the taxi base with the windows down.

He said that they hijacked the car and locked its driver in the trunk.

The three suspects then entered the stolen car and it was driven off by Hudson.

Hale continued that Newyer took over the driving of Hudson’s car and drove behind the stolen car all the way to B-Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

When they arrived there, Newyer handed over Hudson’s car to an individual by the name of “Foxy” and together with Hale he entered the stolen car still being driven by Hudson.

The carjackers would then proceed to carry out a robbery spree with the stolen car and its owner locked in the trunk.

They started by robbing a man of his cellphone at 10th Street Cummings Lodge and then continued their journey to Ogle Airstrip road where they robbed two more victims in their car of cash and cellphones. Those victims have been identified as a 53-year-old man and a woman.

The suspects then proceeded to rob a Canadian man sleeping in his car in the vicinity of Tropical View Hotel located on Cambelleville Avenue of a haversack containing money and his cell phone.

They staged another robbery on Lamaha Street where they robbed a man in his Tundra of $25,000 in cash before heading up the East Bank in search of more victims to rob.

However, their luck ran out after police spotted them and chased them to Mandela Avenue where they were eventually captured in a shootout.

Hale and Samuels reportedly admitted to participating in several other robbed robberies in the Georgetown district and led police to a house in West Ruimveldt where they handed over a 9mm Taurus Pistol without a magazine and single live 9MM ammunition.

The two suspects also took police to Hudson mother’s house at D-Field Sophia where more suspected stolen items were found- Hudson is the fifth suspect still on the run. Police identified the items as four cellular phones, and an HP laptop. Police also found boxes of illegal .32 and 9mm ammunitions along with over 2000 grams of ganja. Hudson’s mom was taken for questioning and the illegal items seized. Meanwhile,Hudson is still to be located.