As a protest erupted on Monday night in Linden over the Police shooting of 21-year-old Ronaldo Peters, the Guyana Police Force issued a statement late on Monday night that has since been contradicted by CCTV video recordings of the incident.

In its statement, the Guyana Police Force claimed that a Police Sergeant and party of ranks went to a location Shabba Bar at One Mile in Linden with the Sergeant being armed with a 9mm service pistol, and another rank being armed with a .38 service revolver. “These ranks were fully dressed in uniform”, the statement said.

However, a video recording of the incident showed an unmarked black mini-bus pulling up alongside a group of men sitting at the road corner and a heavily built man dressed in plain clothes rushing out of the mini-bus and charging towards the group.

The young man identified as Ronaldo Peters was seen attempting to flee as the man dressed in plain clothes and later identified as Police Sergeant Kendall, chased behind him with gun in hand.

Within seconds, gunshots were heard and the Police Sergeant was seen dragging the injured young man on the ground and dumping him into the unmarked mini-bus.

The Police in its statement claimed that Peters was attempting to flee when the Sergeant managed to pull him off from a fence and in the process of subduing him, the Police Sergeant’s service pistol went off.

The Police statement said the injured man was escorted to the Linden Hospital where he died while receiving treatment, adding that a circular wound was seen on the right side of his lower abdomen.

Eyewitnesses have reported that the Police Sergeant never identified himself when he hopped out of the unmarked mini-bus and charged towards the young man who ran. They said Ronaldo Peters was shot by the Police Sergeant Kendall, who made no attempt to offer any assistance when young man collapsed, but instead dragged him out of the yard.

Eyewitnesses also said the youth was cornered by a grilled verandah and gate when he was shot, and there was no fence for him to attempt to jump over.

Persons in the area also reported that by the time a uniformed rank was seen at the scene, Peters had already been shot by the Sergeant and was being dragged out of the yard.

Up to late last night, more than six hours after the shooting, the Police had not returned to the scene of the incident to begin any probe.

The Police in its statement claim that Peters was wanted in relation to a report of an alleged rape of a child under 16-years, which allegedly occurred between December of last year and January of this year.

Family members said they are unaware of any such report, and have noted that the young man has never been in hiding and there was never any wanted bulletin issued for his arrest for any incident. According to the family, the 21-year-old was working on a road construction contract as a labourer, and was at work all day yesterday. He was hanging out with a group of friends after work, when the incident that took his life occurred.

Family members and community leaders joined a group of citizens last evening in an impromptu protest outside the Wismar Police Station demanding Justice for Ronaldo.

The Guyana Police Force has indicated that the Police Sergeant has since been placed under close arrest and the matter is being investigated by the Police Office of Professional Responsibility.

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