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Bandits escape as police open fire on innocent teens
(Kaieteur News) – The perpetrators of a Chinese supermarket robbery successfully escaped on Sunday afternoon, while police focused their fire and force on two teenagers who maintain they were merely passing through the area.
The incident, which occurred near Garnett Street around 3:00 PM, left 17-year-old Rushad Joseph and 19-year-old Chris Chand with injuries after they were allegedly targeted by plainclothes officers who ignored radio dispatches confirming they were pursuing the wrong suspects. Efforts made to contact Regional Commander, Assistant Commissioner Simon McBean for a comment proved futile.
A screenshot of Joseph and Chand handcuffed on the road.
Kaieteur News understands the confrontation began when a man dressed in civilian clothing, black top and black pants, stepped into the middle of the road and leveled a firearm at the two youths as they rode a motorcycle. According to Joseph’s sister, Kyanna Joseph Webster, the teenagers panicked because the individual was not in uniform and did not identify himself as a law enforcement officer. The man reportedly opened fire on the pair, while a second individual “lashed” them off the moving bike with his arm, sending them crashing to the pavement. The fall caused Joseph to suffer deep abrasions across his legs, hips, toes, and elbows, requiring him to receive multiple stitches for a severe ankle wound later that evening.
One of the injuries Joseph sustained after being thrown from his bike.
As the teenagers laid on the ground, the situation escalated further. Family members claim that while the boys questioned why they were being detained, the officers refused to provide names or badge numbers, allegedly telling them, “Y’all play y’all is thief… y’all gonna learn today.” In a particularly harrowing moment, Kaieteur News understands that one officer reportedly stood over Chand and discharged a firearm near his head. While the bullet did not hit him, the proximity of the blast caused trauma and bruising to the side of his face. During the assault, Joseph managed to video call his mother to show her his injuries, but the call was cut short when officers threatened to tase him if he did not hang up immediately.
Joseph-Webster reported that her brother could clearly hear the radio on an officer’s waist broadcasting messages from other units who were in pursuit of the actual robbers in a different area. These units reportedly warned the officers on Garnett Street multiple times that they had the wrong men and that the true suspects were heading in a different direction. Despite this, the officers on the scene allegedly ignored the information, discarded the boys’ motorcycle in a corner, and threw the injured teenagers into a police van for transport to the Kitty Police Station.
Once at the station, after Joseph’s mother arrived and statements were recorded, an officer reportedly told the family it was “just unfortunate” that the teens were in the “wrong place at the wrong time.” The police claimed they were acting on information that the boys matched a description of the suspects, yet no specific details of that description have been shared with the family. Ultimately, the distraction caused by the detention of Joseph and Chand allowed the real bandits to ride away, leaving the two innocent youths to seek medical treatment for their injuries and accountability for the use of force used against them.
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