Written by Leroy Smith
RUMOURED to be the “fine skinny Indian” in Corporal Cleto’s shooting, 19-year-old Mario Gouveia of James Street, Albouystown, who along with two other Albouystown men was shot on Saturday night in what was allegedly an exchange of gunfire with the police, succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was nursing a gunshot injury to the face while under police guard.

He and his accomplices were reputedly about to commit a robbery when they were intercepted by the police.

Up to late Sunday, Gouveia was alert and responding to relatives. He had even spoken with this publication from his hospital bed.
Unconfirmed reports are that Gouveia was the “fine skinny Indian” who had, earlier this year, exited a vehicle on Avenue of the Republic and opened fire on a police mobile patrol, injuring two police officers and killing Corporal Romain Cleto in the process.
The Guyana Chronicle was unable to contact the crime chief yesterday to confirm if the police were in receipt of any such information, but this publication was informed by a source that that very critical piece of (as yet unconfirmed) information had been passed on to the police by a character the police had initially fingered as ONE of the suspects in the killing of the cop.
Last Saturday night, police opened fire on Gouveia’s two friends — Jermaine Canterbury, called “Chow”, 21 years old, of Hogg Street, Albouystown; and Mark Anthony Joseph, called “Two Grand”, 19 years old and also of Hogg Street, Albouystown, killing them instantly after it had been reported that the men had allegedly opened fire on the police when challenged them during a police stakeout.
The police also caught up with Gouveia a short distance from the scene, after they had asserted that he had been with the two men at the time they had been approached by the police, but had managed to escape.
In an interview with this newspaper from his hospital bed on Sunday last, the 19-year-old had denied knowing the other two men, although several persons in Albouystown, including the mothers of the men who had been killed, identified him as an associate of their sons.
The police have said they recovered firearms and ammunition along with a wig during the Saturday night operation.
Police had reportedly received a tip-off that the men were about to rob an occupant of the K&VC Hotel, and had decided to stake out the area. Shortly after arriving at the stakeout point, a white car with the men showed up, and parked at Alexander Street while the three men exited and approached the hotel.
It was then that the police challenged them, resulting in the firefight. The car in which the men had showed up then reportedly drove away from the scene.
Yesterday this publication was unable to confirm if the police were able to contact the owner of the vehicle, the number of which they had issued in their press release on Sunday.
Yesterday’s police press release disclosed that the men had died of multiple gunshot wounds.