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Businessman guns down cop
…claims self-defence after being attacked with heater gun
(Kaieteur News) – A policeman was on Thursday shot and killed during an alleged confrontation with a businessman at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara.
Lance Corporal Richard Marvin Hayes
Dead is Lance Corporal Richard Marvin Hayes, 35, of Lot 13 School Street, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara. He was allegedly shot and killed by a businessman at the Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling Road around 09:00 hrs on Thursday, police said in a press release.
The 37-year-old businessman of Crane Housing Scheme, who operates a cellular phone stall at the Stelling, has since been arrested. He is a licensed firearm holder of a .32 Taurus pistol. According to police reports, Hayes who was attached to the Impact Base at Brickdam Police Station, had visited the suspect’s shop on Wednesday to enquire about purchasing cellphones and left shortly after.
However, around 09:00hrs on Thursday, Hayes reportedly returned to the stall, indicating he had come to buy a phone. The suspect told police that while he was packing boxes, Hayes became “hostile”, prompting him to ask the officer to leave. The businessman alleged that Hayes instead picked up a cellphone heater gun from the display counter and threw it at him, striking him in the chest. In response, the suspect reportedly drew his firearm and discharged one round, hitting Hayes in his right chest.
Arrested, Robert Hoosein
Ron Hayes, who operates a nearby barbershop, said he rushed over after hearing the gunshot and found his brother bleeding, police reported. He immediately transported him to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where the officer succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment.
“I went and get me car and spectators around help put he in me car and when I reach to the hospital, the hospital emergency come out and they come with the stretcher…when I park the car and go back in, the same one that de rolling the stretcher come out back the emergency room and say you brother gone, he dead,” Haynes said during an interview with reporters.
Doctors confirmed that Hayes sustained a single gunshot wound to the chest. Police have since seized the suspect’s firearm and license, and he has been processed for gunshot residue testing. Investigators from Regional Division Three and the Major Crimes Unit are continuing their probe. Authorities have classified the matter as murder, pending legal advice.
Hayes also told reporters that when he arrived at the scene, the businessman was opening his establishment right in front of his brother, who was in a pool of blood. “When I go there and say who shoot me brother, who shoot me brother, nobody ain’t saying anything,” Hayes recounted.
He further disclosed that his brother had been a member of the GPF for about 14 years. Outside of his police duties, his brother supported his family which included his wife, son, and stepson and also ran a chicken and chips business after work.
Hayes said he cannot understand why the businessman would shoot his brother, especially over a confrontation that stemmed from a customer having an issue with an item they purchased.
Brother of Richard Hayes, Ron Hayes
“I feel that these bannaz with their money, they getting too twisted. They tell themselves they got their money and they feel like they running this world,” the man said.
Haynes continued, “Me ain’t see no reason why a license firearm holder supposed to take out he gun knowing that this is police. Even if he was a normal person, he ain’t supposed to pull he strap, because it nah nothing serious like nobody come for rob you. It’s a confrontation whereby you spend your money and if something wrong with your item, I gotta bring it back so you can know something wrong.”
The grieving brother said his family is hoping that justice will prevail for the policeman whose life was snuffed out over a cellular phone.
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the two stories not matching.
De huge maths lawyer will produce a top class witness he always seems to find one… Either a treetop or rooftop witness.