— after bandits pounce on family preparing for memorial service

By Alexis Rodney

PREPARATIONS for a one-year memorial service turned deadly for an East La Penitence, Georgetown family, early Sunday on morning, when bandits pounced upon them, killing a man and critically injuring his two brothers.
The Shaheed family of 194 Freeman Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown, was putting the final touches to preparations for the one-year memorial service for their father at around 00:40 hours on Sunday morning, when two bandits entered the home and shot the three brothers, killing one.

In a release, the Police said that they are investigating a robbery/murder committed earlier on Sunday, on Fazal Shaheed, 58, of 18 Albion, Corentyne Berbice; Talin Shaheed, 50, of Toronto, Canada; and Shalim Shaheed, 53, of the USA, by two masked men, one of whom was armed with a handgun,. The masked bandits carted off an undisclosed amount of jewellery.
Investigations revealed that the brothers along with their other siblings were preparing for a memorial service, when the bandits, by way of a door that was left opened, gained access into the house and pounced upon the victims, allegedly relieving them of their jewellery. They also discharged several rounds before fleeing the scene.
According to the police, several spent shells have been retrieved by investigators, who are currently working on several leads, in an effort to quickly bring the perpetrators to justice.
Meanwhile, a male suspect from the area has since been taken into custody and is assisting with the investigation, the police stated in the release.
Meanwhile, when Guyana Chronicle visited the home on Sunday, persons who should have been attending the memorial ceremony were present but instead they were offering comfort to the grieving family.

Speaking with this publication, another brother Raymond Shaheed who lives in Subryanville, said that for most of Saturday after uplifting some barrels shipped from overseas, family members were cooking sweet meats for the event and “making jokes”.
He explained that a number of his siblings, including the injured two, had travelled from the United States and Canada to celebrate the “year work” for their father.
He told the Guyana Chronicle that about 12:30 hrs on Sunday morning, he left his siblings and other family members and went home, but soon after arriving home his phone rang. “Raymond come now, they are killing us,” the visibly shaken man recalled his sister was shouting over the phone. He said he “broke all the traffic rules” to get to his family’s home, but by the time he got there they had already left for the police station and subsequently the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
“When I got there (the hospital), I forced my way into the room and when I got in I saw Fazal with something in his mouth, and he was too gruesome to recognise.” Fazal, he said, received four gunshot wounds one of which pierced his heart, “and I am sure that is the one that took him,” Raymond said.

He related that he then checked on another brother, Talim, who was shot in the shoulder, and observed that he was conscious, but visibly in severe pain. Raymond said that even though Talim has since been transferred to the medical ward of the hospital, he is still very concerned about his well-being because he had previously undergone a triple-bypass surgery.
Checking next on Shalim, the other brother who injured, Raymond said he observed that was shot three times about his body and that his condition looked critical. He said he was informed by a doctor that his brother had to undergo emergency surgery to repair his small intestine which was ruptured during the shooting.

Raymond recalled that when he and his wife were leaving to go to their home, his now deceased brother was outside “washing up” the utensils. Based on what was reported to him by his sister, the two men apparently scaled the fence and entered the house where the other two brothers were resting.
His elderly mother and his sisters were in the kitchen but did not notice the men until the shots were fired. It was at that point that Talim rushed from outside where he was washing to dishes the door, but was confronted by the bandits who shot him.