Bus driver shot dead trying to save passengers from bandits
– Agricola twins among suspects
A Route-32 (Parika/Georgetown) Minibus driver is now dead after he was shot trying to save his passengers from three bandits yesterday.
The dead man has been identified as 38-year-old Tedroy Neil James of Suddie,
The area where the shooting took place being cordoned off. The minibus that Tedroy Neil James (inset) was driving can also be seen.
Essequibo Coast.
The shooting occurred in the vicinity of Middle Street Mc Doom, East Bank Demerara sometime around 11:30hrs.
According to reports, James was driving minibus BTT 976 north along the East Bank Demerara Public Road – presumably heading to Georgetown – when he was instructed by a male passenger whom he had picked up on the West Coast of Demerara, to stop at Middle Street Mc Doom.
As the male passenger was about to disembark the vehicle, two male suspects, one armed with a handgun, pounced on the unsuspecting passengers and began to rob them.
James upon noticing the ruckus, attempted to drive away, apparently to create some distance between the robbers and his passengers. The father of two was fatally shot by one of the men in the process.
The suspects then made good their escape by hopping the median before running into a nearby street.
Public-spirited citizens subsequently took James to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The police in a press release stated that James was shot in the back.
The release also stated that one of the suspects is in police custody.
Kaieteur News was later informed that two men were being held in connection to the shooting. They have been identified as the Vasconcellos twins from Agricola.
One of the brothers is Curtis Vasconcellos. He is currently out on bail for robbery and an attempted murder.
Curtis Vasconcellos was one of the two men that led the police on a high-speed chase in Georgetown last November after allegedly robbing accountant, Baldeo Seegobin at the Tower Suites Hotel.
Meanwhile, the James family is now contemplating their next move.
The dead man’s sister, Aniki James, said that her brother was a hard worker and would have recently procured the minibus. She said that her brother’s death came months after she would have lost another sibling.