Written by Leroy Smith
THE Guyana Police Force have on record and as evidence claims that all three of the men who were shot on Saturday night on South Road have been involved with the law on matters of robberies and at the moment the survivor of Saturday’s shooting has a pending matter for the same offence in a magistrates’ court.

Yesterday the Guyana Police Force confirmed that all three men who were shot by police ranks on Saturday were about to commit a robbery on a guest of the K&VC Hotel on South Road and based on information the police staked out the location.

The police said that the men showed up at the hotel in a car PPP 8539 at about 20.30 hours when they realised that three men were exiting the vehicle as it stopped at Alexander Street, they subsequently proceeded towards the hotel.
It was then the police approached the men when they opened fire resulting in the police returning fire. According to the police, the car that the men arrived in was driven away from the scene after the exchange of gunfire.

Dead are Jermaine Canterbury called “Chow”, 21 years of Hogg Street, Albouystown; and Mark Anthony Joseph called “Two Grand” 19 years, also of Hogg Street, Albouystown. Mario Gouveia, 19 years, of James Street, Albouystown was shot and injured to his face and is a patient under guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
Meanwhile, survivor of the shooting Mario Gouveia has come out to deny any  affiliation with the other two Albouystown men who live just around the corner from him and who were killed during the police operation on Saturday night.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle from his hospital bed at the GPHC yesterday afternoon in the presence of his mother and other persons who came to visit him, the young man in response to a question by this reporter about his affiliation to the two dead men said that he does not know them.
However, his answer drew some very strange facial expressions from his mother and the visitors who were at his bedside at time, but who would not utter a word. Not only was Gouveia’s new claim of not knowing the men strange but it also contradicted the claims of the relatives of the two dead men who all claimed that the boys were friends and would usually hang out together and went as far as describing the three men as cousins.
He claims he was on South Road heading to catch a bus to go home. The man denied ever being in a vehicle or riding a motor cycle at the time he was intercepted by the police.
The police were also able to recover an unlicensed .32 revolver with two live rounds and one spent shell. There was also an unlicensed .38 snub-nosed revolver with three live rounds and three spent shells.
In underscoring the point that the men are indeed persons who have been in brushes with the law, the following information was released by the police.
Jermaine Canterbury was released from prison on March 27, 2012, on bail in the sum of $100,000.00, after being charged with robbery under arms committed on Rajendra Singh of First Choice Jewellery Store and Pawn Shop during May 2010.
Mark Anthony Joseph was released from prison on January 22, 2013, on bail in the sum of $150,000.00, after being charged with robbery under arms committed on Andrew Yaw in December 2012.
Mario Gouveia was released from prison on May 6, 2013, on bail in the sum of $200,000.00, after being charged with robbery under arms committed on Cecil Gajadhar on March 25, 2013.
The shooting of the young men comes just days after Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell promised the Guyanese people that he would ensure that the Guyana Police Force works to reclaim the streets and communities from criminals.
Brumell in his confirmation speech last week Monday at the Office of the President in Georgetown recommitted to the people of Guyana his intention to ensure that they are safe and that the police live up to their motto. Brumell also called for there to be a better relationship between the police force and the members of the public with respect to information- sharing.
The police operation on Saturday was reportedly based on information that they received from a source that the men were about to commit a robbery.