Dead bandits identified
Stabroek News
September 12, 2002
One of two gunmen killed in a shootout with the police on Tuesday night was yesterday identified as a former member of the Guyana Defence Force.
A well placed source last night identified the men as Emmanuel Wright and Junior Liverpool, the former being an ex-soldier of East Coast Demerara; the latter reportedly from Linden.
The duo was suspected to be part of the gang that robbed a Texaco Gas Station in the city, shortly before engaging the police in a gun battle. The shootout occurred at the entrance to Republic Park, East Bank Demerara.
Sources said Wright's brother was accompanied by the police yesterday when he turned up at the Newburg Funeral Home to identify the body.
Liverpool was identified by his mother, whom sources said was due to return to the United States shortly. The two men, along with a third had robbed the Texaco Gas Station at the corner of Princes and High streets, just minutes before the shootout.
The third man escaped, and according to a police source, there was a trail of excrement from the scene of the shootout, into the canefields.
"We believe that he was badly injured and are hunting for him... Those were the same three men who robbed [the Texaco] Infinity Gas Station earlier that night," a police source told this newspaper last night.
The gun battle started at Republic Park shortly after 9:00 pm, sending residents scurrying in all directions. When it was over, Liverpool and Wright were dead - one at the head of the street, and the other in a hijacked car bearing the licence plate PHH 5113.
The police had apparently spotted the men and began to trail them. When the gunmen realised that they were being followed, sources said, they opened fire on the police. In the commotion, one of the police's vehicles crashed into a nearby fence.
The police recovered two weapons - a `Carbine' and an `Intrepid' submachine gun - from the gunmen's car, as well as a bag of cash and matching ammunition.
The police, in a release, said that at 9:15 pm, a police mobile patrol was on patrol duty at the Eccles Public Road, East Bank Demerara, when they observed a car, PHH 5113, with three suspicious occupants.
"The occupants of the car, on seeing the police patrol, started to drive at a very fast rate, overtaking a number of vehicles. The police gave chase and came under fire from the occupants of the said car, which turned east into Republic Park and ended up in a ditch," the police statement said.
Further, the police said, there was an exchange of gunfire between the occupants of the car and the police, resulting in two of the occupants being fatally shot. They said the car's original registration number is HB 310, and that it was hijacked from its driver on Monday night. Investigations are continuing.