…after he menaced rank with a cutlass
Police yesterday reported that at about 22:00h on Tuesday, wanted man David McPherson called ‘Colonel’, 40, of Betsy Ground, Canje, Berbice, was fatally shot by the police after he attacked a rank with a cutlass during efforts to arrest him.

Ranks of a mobile police patrol responded to information received that David McPherson, for whom an arrest warrant was issued by the court and who was sentenced in his absence to five years imprisonment in May 2010 for robbery under arms, and was also wanted for questioning in relation to a number of reports of armed robberies in the Canje district, was in hiding in a yard at Betsy Ground.

Upon arrival, the police saw McPherson in the yard armed with a cutlass. As the ranks approached to arrest him, McPherson attacked one of them with a cutlass causing the rank to resort to the use of force, and he was shot to his abdomen. He was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

On Monday last, police ranks had conducted a search on McPherson’s home at Betsy Ground where they found a sawn-off shotgun along with 18 matching cartridges, a crow bar, a black wig, a black mask , and three pounds of marijuana.
He had eluded capture by the police earlier on Monday last on a dam at Betsy Ground, Canje.

That day at about 7:30h, two men, one of whom was armed with a shotgun, entered the home of businessman, Mauria Sookraj, at Betsy Ground, Canje, Berbice, and held him up. They took away a quantity of jewellery, $150,000 in cash, a desk top computer and a mini-stereo set.
However, information received led to a further search of an abandoned house in the vicinity, where the desk top computer stolen from Mauria Sookraj was recovered and a bag with three pounds of marijuana was found.