ACTING COMMISSIONER of Police, Leroy Brumell said yesterday the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is requesting that family members and relatives of the three persons killed in Linden on Wednesday cooperate with the police to have the post mortems performed as soon as possible noting that there seems to be some delaying tactics involved. He was at the time speaking to reporters following the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Wreath laying ceremony for Fallen Heroes at Eve Leary yesterday.
The Top Cop added that it has been a number of days since the men were killed in the mining town and the police usually conduct post mortems on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but they were trying their utmost to have them done yesterday.
Brumell added that the incident was most unfortunate in which lives were lost and a Commission of Inquiry has since been launched.
He stated that the police have a handle on what is happening in Linden because they have several senior officers placed there but since the unrest on Wednesday another senior officer was dispatched but had to return to the city because of the road blockages.
When asked who gave the ‘shoot order’ on Wednesday the Top Cop said that they have a rank, who is in Charge of the Riot Unit and he would have assessed the situation before making any decision but so far an investigation is ongoing.
Brumell in response to questions about the use of the water cannon for crowd control in Linden last Wednesday said that consideration was given but the incident happened late into the night as such it was impossible for any use of the water cannon at that time.
On Wednesday last, as residents turned out in their numbers and took to the streets in protest action against the tariff increase in electricity it turned deadly when the police said missiles were thrown at them while they were trying to maintain law and order by clearing debris from roadways and bridges.
It was then police fired live rounds at the crowd;when it ended three men were shot and killed and dozens injured and hospitalised. It however, sparked angry outbursts from residents, who maintained that they at no time attacked the lawmen and a series of fires, were set to several buildings as well as roads, bridges etc.
Police reported that at about 23:35 hrs on Friday July 20, 2012, police ranks responded promptly to a report of a number of persons seen acting suspiciously at Republic Avenue, Mackenzie, Linden.
The Digicel Outlet and the Post Office at Republic Avenue were found to have been broken into and quick work by the police led to the arrest of 11 men and a woman and the recovery of a number of articles that are suspected to have been stolen from the two offices.
The articles include, three desk top computers, one lap top computer, one water dispenser, one wireless phone, one money counting machine, three flat screen television sets, one iPod, one digital scale, one water dispenser, one micro wave, cell phones, and cell phone chargers and batteries.
Twelve persons are in police custody as the investigations continue.
GPF seeking to have earliest post mortems on Linden victims
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