‘B’ DIVISION police have arrested two persons in connection with the shooting death of 49-year-old Chinese restaurant owner Xiu Yi Yang at Number 57 Village, Corentyne Berbice.On Sunday, February 7, 2016, at about 20:00 hrs, two armed men entered the Jio Li Lai Chinese Restaurant through the back door, and demanded cash after confronting business proprietor Xiu Yi Yang, a mother of four.

Confused, Yang started screaming for help. She was shot to the face, and died from a single bullet wound in the region of the temple. The men fled the scene through the backyard of the restaurant. They left empty-handed.

Moments after the shooting, the mortally injured woman was picked up by a community policing group patrol that was a few houses away, attending a meeting at which Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Gobin Harbhajan, was present. The patrol responded after hearing the sound of the gunshot and later cries for help, and rushed the injured woman to the Skeldon hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Guyana Chronicle has been reliably informed that the suspects detained are in their late twenties and are said to be living a few villages away from where the shooting took place.

Meanwhile, Gobin Harbhajan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, expressed sympathy to the family of Yang, whom he has known for over 18 years. He is appealing to residents who own empty lots to keep them clean of overgrown vegetation, as it serves as a hiding place for criminals. His plea came as residents of the Upper Corentyne area complained of overgrown vegetation being a haven for criminal elements. The lot behind the Chinese restaurant, through which the two bandits escaped, has overgrown vegetation, and residents say the criminals hid there, unknowing to their victims, before making their move at the moment when the restaurant was most vulnerable.

In our edition of Tuesday, February 9, Vincent Su, son of the late Xiu Yi Yang, had given our reporter a version of events that contrast in some respects with the article featured above. Having done a thorough investigation into the tragic events of 7th instant, we are convinced that details featured in this story are an accurate representation of what had transpired on the night in question.