Execution goes wrong; intented target shoots one
What would have otherwise been an execution Saturday at the East La Penitence Georgetown Market, took a sudden turn when the victim escaped and returned fire, injuring one of the three men who were out to kill him.
The injured, John Lewis, 22, of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown is currently under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), nursing a gunshot wound to the abdomen and the left arm. Around 11:40 hrs the somewhat calm market scene erupted into one of chaos and terror as three men jumped from a black Toyota Primio car and fired shots at an unnamed, somewhat stoutly built man. Our reporter was standing at a food stall just a few yards away. The car which was driving slowly along the East La Penitence Public Road, stopped a short distance from the Twins Drug Store and three men hurriedly existed. They headed in the direction of a fruit stall on the southern side of the road, from which a man suddenly began to run. The three men gave chase, one of them firing shots wildly from a handgun. Vendors scattered in all directions, abandoning cash and sales items, while pedestrians dashed for cover inside stores, restaurants and bars. But it was the spectacle that was unfolding that was more chilling. The man continued to fire shots as the group gave chase, but their intended victim was fast on his feet, sprinting in a ‘zig zag fashion’, in a desperate bid to evade the bullets. He made it safely to the vicinity of the beer garden at the junction of James Street and East La Penitence Public Road, before whipping out a firearm and returning fire on his assailants. Suddenly one of the men screamed in pain and slumped to the ground, in the middle of the road, blood spurting from a wound below his left ribs. As the victim continued to fire shots at his attackers they retreated, and began looking frantically for their getaway car. But the driver witnessing his accomplice getting shot, apparently drove off in fear, forcing both men to make their escape on foot in the direction of Albouystown. The men before making their escape, dragged the injured Lewis to the road shoulders where they left him bleeding, shouting, “We got yuh budday; we gon come back fuh yuh”
A large crowd soon gathered around the injured man who was bleeding profusely from the gunshot wounds. Police sources have related that the injured man said the execution was attempted over a ‘deal that went sour’, indicating that the victim whom they attempted to execute owes them large sums of cash in a ‘business deal’ in which he failed to meet his end of the bargain. The injured Lewis is under close watch by police at the GPHC where he is hospitalized. (Kaieteur News)