A 22-year-old man of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown was early Friday morning gunned down while he stood at the junction of Albouys and James Streets, Albouystown. Three other persons were wounded in the melee that shocked the community. Dead is Sanasie Lewis. He was killed in a hail of bullets. While the police are claiming that one man opened fire on the group of men, persons who were in the area said there were two gunmen who approached on foot and started firing shots in the direction of Lewis who, from all appearances, appeared to be the intended target. The men then reportedly fled the immediate surroundings and joined a car where they made good their escape. The gunshots sent patrons who had just exited the Ghetto Flex Bar on James Street scampering for cover.
As the gunshots subsided it was then that persons realised that visiting United States citizens Jamal Bascom, 23, of Independence Boulevard Georgetown; Jonathan De Freitas, 20, of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara; and Kurt Francis, 16, of Princes Street, Georgetown, were all injured during the shooting.
Yesterday, persons who are familiar with Lewis told this publication that it was only recently the man returned from Suriname where he reportedly ran afoul of the law and might have fled back to Guyana. In addition, there were also reports that the man was in the past charged and placed before the courts for armed robbery by local police. Unconfirmed reports also reaching the Chronicle stated that the man’s shooting might have been retaliation for the earlier shooting death of another resident from another Georgetown community.
This conclusion was arrived at after police investigators realised that the victim was shot some nine times about the body. When this newspaper arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting, the owner of the Ghetto Flex Bar made it clear that the shooting did not take place inside her businessplace.
She said the reason so many people were outside of her premises just before the shooting was because she observed the 02:00 hrs shut-off time for her bar and was at the time of the shooting checking off her stock and tallying her sales to pay her night staff.

BLOOD OOZING
One eyewitness to the shooting explained that she was standing not too far from where the man was gunned down. She added that she has never witnessed such tragedy, relating how she saw blood oozing from the injured man’s body.
The police were informed of the shooting and quickly arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area where they conducted initial investigations. Contacted late yesterday afternoon, senior police sources stated that based on the spent shells that they recovered from the scene of the shooting, the gunmen might have used 9mm pistols.

The police are also looking to see if there was a shootout between the now dead Lewis and the men who attacked him. That will have to be determined after the dead man’s body is examined for gun powder residue. Up to late last evening no one was arrested in connection with the shooting even as the police continue their investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Over the past few months there have been several high-profile crimes committed with the use of firearms which have also resulted in the death of several persons. Presently, the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Public Security and the Guyana Police Force has an arms, ammunition and explosives amnesty programme running countrywide. The programme has already received favourable responses from members of the public.

By Leroy Smith