TWO bandits who were slain during an exchange of gunfire with police on Sunday night were ‘career crooks’, the lawmen have confirmed.Having since been identified as 22-year-old Jamal Letlow, called “Gaza”, of John Fernandes Squatting area, Mandela Avenue, Georgetown; and 23-year-old Shaquille Fraser of Better Hope, East Coast Demerara and Lot 153 Lodge Housing Scheme, Georgetown, the young men had just robbed six persons at Lot 53 Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown when police engaged them in a gunfight.

Police described the men as known characters that had brushes with the law. Jamal Letlow, a fish cleaner at the Meadow Bank Wharf, was a father of two and husband of a pregnant wife.
Police said he was also wanted for armed robbery committed on Christopher Persaud at John Fernandes Access Road on October 25 last.

The outlaw was related to Constable Marlon Letlow who was killed by miners in October 2012 after allegedly robbing their camp in the mountainous Paramakatoi community of the North Pakaraimas in Region Eight. Constable Letlow was killed along with Constable Leadon Aaron, whose body was burnt almost beyond recognition. Reports are that the two cops had been confronted by their intended victims, who sought to defend themselves.

Aaron had received the first gunshot, and had lost control of the ATV, hurling Letlow, who was also mortally wounded, into a nearby clump of bushes, where he was eventually left to die. The badly injured Aaron was subsequently tied to a tree and set alight.

According to police, at about 20:30hrs on Sunday, the Seaforth Street victims were in a yard celebrating a family reunion when the armed bandits pounced on, and relieved them of their valuables. During the ordeal, the bandits discharged several rounds in the air, and decided to flee the scene as a number of public-spirited citizens decided to pursue them.

A police patrol in the area was contacted, and the robbers were cornered inside the compound of the Campbellville Secondary School, where the ensuing gun battle left the bandits mortally wounded.

Police have reportedly recovered an unlicensed revolver with five live rounds and several spent shells. Stolen articles gained from the crime were also recovered by police, including five cellular phones, a chain and cash.

Taken to the Georgetown Hospital with gunshot injuries, the men were pronounced dead. Both men bore multiple gunshot wounds to their bodies.