FOLLOWING the botched armed robbery outside Demerara Bank Ltd. on Camp Street and South Road, Georgetown, where a team of security guards attached to Professional Guard Service (PGS) came under heavy gunfire from bandits on Sunday night, Managing Director of PGS, Sean Kirkpatrick, said the guards will be rewarded for their act of dedication and bravery on the job.He said team members would each be presented with monetary awards of a sum he did not want to disclose. He was proud of the team effort and the level of cooperation they displayed on Sunday night.

Kirkpatrick told the Guyana Chronicle that the PGS is Guyana’s elite security service and it has adequate numbers of well-trained and heavily armed guards doing cash deposits and response.

Security guards attached to PGS Cash Deposit Services Unit on Sunday morning engaged gunmen in what was described as an act of bravery.

The team foiled an armed robbery when its members were about to make a deposit at Demerara Bank Ltd. on Camp Street and South Road, Georgetown on Sunday night.

Security guard Nicholas De Clou, 30, was shot once in the leg; he has since been discharged from the hospital.

Police, in a statement, reported that three private security guards attached to the Professional Guard Service displayed courage at about 23:45h on Sunday night while on duty. In the process, they received gunshot injuries and were hospitalised in a stable condition.

The security guards — two males and a female — had just collected various amounts of cash for night safe deposits at the Demerara Bank, and while in the process of exiting the armored vehicle, criminal elements in a motor car drove up and opened fire on them, police said.

The security guards adopted tactical positions and returned fire, causing the motor car to speed away. The car has since been recovered in the Durban Backlands area with evidence that it had been involved in an exchange of gunfire.

A quantity of spent shells and five live rounds of .38 ammunition were recovered at the scene at Demerara Bank, whilst spent shells were found in the motor car at Durban Backlands.

Meanwhile, it was reported that in an effort to locate the suspects, several nightclubs were raided by the police on Sunday morning, and surveillance footage obtained would be enhanced by the police.

The shooting went down when the PGS armoured vehicle arrived at the bank; and as the guards exited, the bandits ordered them to hand over the bag with the money. However, the alert Nicholas De Clou threw the bag containing the money in the vehicle and engaged the bandits in gunfire. He was shot and injured, but the bandits were forced to retreat empty-handed when the PGS team traded bullets with them.

According to reports, the getaway car, a Toyota 212, was observed circling the bank before the shooting incident, and was parked on Croal Street.

Up to press time there were no arrests, but the police probe continues.