Primus chides GPF, Home Affairs minister for being mum on shooting death of cop by businessman

Oct 25, 2025 News

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…calls for greater evaluation before issuance of firearms

(Kaieteur News) – General Secretary of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Party, Odessa Primus on Friday scolded the Guyana Police Force, headed by Clifton Hicken and Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond for their silence on the recent shooting death of a police by a businessman.

Thirty-five-year-old Lance Corporal Richard Marvin Hayes of Lot 13 School Street, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara (WCD) was shot dead by a 37-year-old businessman at Vreed-en-Hoop, WCD.

The 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.

Primus told Kaieteur News that such an incident requires the immediate condemnation by those in authority.

“I mean, how could you be part of …the Police Force, let’s say, quote, unquote, is a family. How could you be part of a family and there’s a fatal shooting in said family, and there isn’t a single solitary voice that was broken by the Guyana Police Force to say, at the bare minimum, a condemnation of the actions of this citizen,” she explained.

The WIN General Secretary said when the police are accused of killing civilians, their actions are quickly condemned even by the government noting that it is unfair that similar condemnation has not occurred in Hayes’ case.

Primus called on the Guyana Police Force “to operate as though they have some degree of care for people’s families that are joining these entities, joining these organisations.”

“Because this young man has parents, he has aunts and uncles and I don’t know, possibly children or a girlfriend or wife who cares about him. What are you saying to those persons? When you put an advertisement out there in the public, it says to come and join the police force. It’s a prestigious organisation and you know, we offer so many things, and we’re here to protect and serve and so on. Who is protecting and serving the members of the Guyana Police Force, or their lives don’t matter?” she elaborated.

Meanwhile, the WIN representative questioned the procedure employed in the granting of firearm licences. She said those methods ought to be revised given the number of gun crimes, “because clearly, there isn’t sufficient things put in place.”

“These licences granted by the police force …and in the granting of these licences, I think it is important for us to consider mental health evaluations for such persons, and even if it’s done whenever they have to renew these licences and so on that there should be, a follow up in terms of checking one’s mental health.”

Primus opined that many persons appear to be mentally stable but are battling psychological problems.

“It therefore means that enough is not being done to ensure that we fully understand that the persons who are granted a licence is capable of making logical decisions whenever they feel as though they are under pressure or threatened or any such thing, because there is need for impulsive decision making sometimes,” she said.

Former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Slowe who has been vocal on a number of issues related to the management and operation of the police force said when a fatal shooting occurs by a licensed firearm owner, the investigation should also include how that individual acquired his or her licence.

“I have commented repeatedly on the issue of firearms in Guyana, both legal and illegal. It is evident that many persons who have been able to acquire firearms legally are clearly unfit to be entrusted with such a lethal instrument. When there is a fatal shooting by a licensed firearm owner, the investigation should also include how that individual acquired the licence for the firearm. The findings of such an investigation might be very revealing,” Slowe said on his Facebook page.

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• Clifton Hicken, Odessa Primus, Richard Marvin Hayes, We Invest in Nationhood

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