POLICE Commissioner Leroy Brumell has said the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is seeking to locate and arrest a number of persons for the robbery/murder of Mc Doom miner Gavin Mc Neil, committed when armed bandits invaded his home at just after 20:00 hrs on Wednesday last. Speaking at a graduation ceremony at police headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, the commissioner was responding to a question about security for persons in the mining sector, who often travel to the city with large amounts of cash and gold, when he said that the Police Force is presently in the process of looking at a security arrangement for persons in the mining sector.

The commissioner disclosed that the GPF is considering arming some persons in the mining sector, as well as giving them the powers of the police, including authority to make arrests. However, while the GPF intends to go in that direction, there still needs to be consideration for training, which will be provided for those persons who would be identified to receive the “police powers”, because the GPF has to consider the eventuality of arming persons who are not security conscious.

Commissioner Brumell also said he had received from his officers no information to suggest that the late Gavin McNeil had been involved in any nefarious activities.

The police yesterday rounded up several males in the Tiger Bay community, and finger printed them as they searched for clues into a matter they claimed they were investigating. The police did not say if the operation was aimed at finding the persons who carried out the robbery and murder in Mc Doom on Wednesday night.

The bandits who had invaded the McNeil home were said to be youngsters who were all masked.
Before they had killed the man, the men had held his daughter at gunpoint and had urged the man and his wife to open the door to the house and let them in, or else they would slit the throat of the young girl.

The couple complied and the bandits were allowed into the house. The men allegedly pumped the bullets into the man as they made good their escape.
Mrs McNeil and her daughter were also injured in the invasion.