A security guard who threatened relatives around midnight, on Saturday, March 9, 2019, was shot dead by a policeman who went to apprehend him.

The now dead man identified as Mark Johnson of Lot 13 Nurney Village, East Berbice, Corentyne, was, reportedly, under the influence of alcohol and was brandishing a cutlass while hurling bottles at his sister’s house, when police intervened.

Johnson’s sister is his neighbour and the incident occurred around 23:45 hrs.
During the incident, police on patrol were passing through the community and relatives stopped them, requesting their assistance to “calm down” Johnson.

However, Johnson paid little attention to the advice of the lawmen and instead turned his attention to them, issuing threats and attempting to charge them with the cutlass he was brandishing at his sister.

His sister Jacqueline Johnson said the police tried to get him to calm down but due to the alcohol in his system, he became more aggressive.

“He did behaving really bad, he pulled down the antenna and throwing bottles at my house and he said he gun chop up everybody. The police did everything to try and get him to cool down but he rush to them with the cutlass and they fire two warning shots in the air but he still rush in with the cutlass” she related.

After realising the warning shots did nothing to halt the enraged man who was advancing towards them, one of the ranks discharged several rounds, hitting him in the right ankle and thigh.

The guard fell to the ground and was picked up and taken to the Port Mourant Hospital in the patrol vehicle, accompanied by relatives.

Johnson was subsequently transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

He was a security guard attached to the Nurney Nursery school and was described as a quiet person who only misbehaved when he consumed alcohol.