Bandits kill moneychanger, daughter in Better Hope home invasion
Armed bandits shot and killed an America Street moneychanger and his daughter yesterday afternoon in a brazen home invasion at Better Hope, East Coast Demerara.
The attack, which claimed the lives of Aaron Latchman and Arianna Latchman, 19, of 58 Robert Street, Better Hope North and sent shockwaves throughout the community, occurred around 3.30 pm, just moments after the man returned home.
The Guyana Police Force said from preliminary investigations, the bandits confronted the elder Latchman as he exited his car. It was revealed that from all indications, he put up a fight and was shot during the struggle. The bandits reportedly took a bag containing money and escaped in a waiting car.
The young woman, neighbours said, was shot and killed in the upper flat of the home.
Some neighbours said it was her screams that alerted them to the attack.
Both victims were shot multiple times and were pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), Police Commander of ‘C’ Division Calvin Brutus told reporters at the scene.
The killings are likely to pile pressure on the police and the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan who have played down the state of crime in the country.
Brutus said police were summoned to the scene around 3.40 pm and promptly responded. He noted that by that time the victims had already been rushed to the hospital by public-spirited persons.
The commander added that while no suspect had been arrested for the murders or robbery, a woman from the community had been detained after she picked up an undisclosed amount of cash that fell as the bandits escaped.
“One woman was arrested after we confronted her about the money. She did admit and produced what she had in her bag... She did not come to us and say she had the money. After we heard from persons, we confronted her,” Brutus explained.
He added that investigators were checking for surveillance footage from the area and along the possible routes the bandits may have used for their escape.
Asked how many persons were involved the attack, Brutus said initial investigations indicated two but it is possible that others were involved.
At the hospital, family members sobbed after being told that both of the Latchmans succumbed to their injuries. As the news spread, close relatives and neighbours showed up. Most of them broke down upon receiving confirmation of the deaths.
A brother-in-law of Aaron told this newspaper he had just left a neighbour’s house when he learnt of the attack.
“I ride off and lil bit after the neighbour call me and say is your saroo-bhai (brother-in-law) yard. I turn back the bike and I hear ‘Ply! Ply!’ And I see two men run to the head of the street...,” he recounted.
The man said after he was sure that the bandits escaped, he and a few other neighbours rushed to the Latchmans’ aid. They found the gates locked, forcing them to break the locks to get inside.
“We had to break the padlocks for the gate and I see my saroo-bhai lying down in blood and I run upstairs and the big daughter lying on the ground... they were both bleeding... I couldn’t have watched it,” the man said.
He added that they quickly mobilised vehicles and rushed the father and daughter to the hospital.
A neighbour told Stabroek News that he was awakened by his wife after she heard screams coming from the Latchman house. He said when he woke up, he also
heard two gunshots and went to check afterward.
“I looked out after the gunshots and I see two men running away… They jumped in a white 212 and go away. The car was waiting. While they were running, money fell out of the bag,” he noted.
Aaron was shot twice, once in his back and once in his chest, while his daughter was shot thrice in her chest, he added.
The neighbour explained that he assisted in transporting Aaron to the hospital and throughout their journey the man bled profusely. “When I bring him [to the hospital], he wasn’t talking but he was bleeding… it looks like he died before he reached the hospital,” he stated.
The neighbour believes that the attack was planned and that the bandits were waiting for Aaron. He noted that the man would return home every afternoon around 3.30 pm.
A second neighbour told this newspaper that after realising a robbery was occurring across the road and the bandits were armed, he sought safety inside his home. “It is not like I didn’t want to help but there was nothing I coulda do. The bandits had guns. Another neighbour tried to jump over the fence and help but the bandits fired a round at him. That caused us to stay away,” he said.
He added that from his observations the bandits gained entry into the yard by scaling the Latchmans’ fence at the eastern end of the property. “They come through the back, a zinc is bent you watch. It has to be they used the old dispensary yard and come through…,” he opined.
The neighbour said Arianna would normally open the doors for her father when he returned home. He said from what other neighbours related to him, the young woman screamed in a bid to alert her father.
“She was screaming and the father put up a fight, I saw, with one of the bandits and he was shot… this whole thing happened like in 10 minutes…,” he explained.
At the scene, Aaron’s wife and Arianna’s mother, Tracey Waheeda, wept uncontrollably. She and her second daughter, who was at lessons at the time of the attack, were consoled by neighbours and friends.
Waheeda, a Theatre Nurse at Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital, was at work when she got the heartbreaking news.