BARTICIANS were yesterday still reeling in shock and disbelief at the senseless bloodbath by a rampaging group of heavily-armed gunmen who cold-bloodedly slaughtered 13 persons, including three policemen, in the mining community around 21:45 h Sunday evening.

The carnage occurred even as residents of the hospitable community, home of Bartica Regatta, were like other Guyanese countrywide, glued to their television and radio sets and rooting for their countrymen playing cricket in Antigua to win their Stanford 20/20 cricket match.

Sunday night’s massacre is reminiscent of a similar attack by armed gunmen on the East Coast Demerara community of Lusignan three weeks earlier that left 12 persons dead and four injured, two of whom are still hospitalized.Dead in the Bartica bloodbath are Lance Corporal 18632 Zaheer Zakir; Constable 16906 Shane Fredericks and Constable 19886 Ron Osborne, all of the Guyana Police Force.

Security guards Irwin Gilkes who was on duty at the Banks DIH outlet on First Avenue, Irwin Ferreira who was working at the home of miner Chunilall Babulall, also of First Avenue, Bartica, security guard Irwin Ferreira and hire-car driver, Dexter Adrian, 38 years of One Mile, Potaro, Bartica Road were also killed. Adrian was on his way to purchase gasoline.Injured are Constables 20219 Mark Campbell, shot in the upper left side and 20231 Chester Benjamin who was shot in both hands and the right hip; Melrose Allicock of Bartica Housing Scheme who was in the company of Gilkes; 15-year-old Lisa Narine – who was shot in her left foot while assisting her mother to sell and, Raymond White who was a passenger in Adrian’s vehicle.Yesterday, residents with a solemn look etched on their faces, converged in their numbers at the riverside as police officers using bed sheets as makeshift stretchers, fetched the dead into a boat to be transported to a mortuary.

Afterwards, pockets of residents could be seen grouped almost everywhere obviously discussing the horrible events that unfolded.

“Bartica never had anything like this before”; “I can’t believe this is happening in this peaceful place!”; “Ah wonder where next?”; “When will this end?”, were among the comments that some residents expressed to this reporter.Reports are that the gunmen who were dressed in foreign camouflage and khaki type wear, first attacked the police station, killing two policemen, one of whom was spotted hiding behind a cupboard, and injuring three others in the process.

One of the policemen is said to have succumbed while being transported to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where they were air-dashed for medical attention.

Upon killing the policemen and injuring the others, the marauding gunmen proceeded to break into a ‘steel strong box’ which housed weapons and ammunition, and carted away five rifles, four revolvers, a shotgun along with a quantity of ammunition.

One of the firearms is said to have been recovered. Another strong box at the station in which cash was placed for safe keeping was also broken into and $65,450 stolen.

In addition, the gunmen took the keys for the Police jeep which they then used as their mode of transport as they continued to create havoc along First Avenue.

One businessman is ever grateful for the cricket which, according to him, saved his life. The man said on realizing that the game was becoming tense, he opted to “close shop” before the normal midnight timings, so he could “take in the cricket” without interruption.

“That saved the day for me or I would have been dead,” he declared.

From the police station, the gunmen who by then were shooting indiscriminately at anyone in their sight, set eyes on Gilkes who was on duty at the Banks DIH outlet and chatting with Allicock. The gunmen dragged him from the cubicle he was in and shot him at close range.It was around this time that Narine who was helping her mother to sell at a nearby condiment tray, was shot in her left foot. She had sought refuge behind the tray.

The gunmen then proceeded to the home of Chunilall Babulall a miner who lived on First Avenue, where Ferreira, father of popular football referee Dianne Ferreira-James, was on duty.

Babulall and family were not on the premises at the time.

The gunmen, declaring that they were ‘Police’ and with their mode of dress, fooled the unsuspecting man who proceeded to open the gate to the premises.

Once inside, they pounced on him, broke into the home and took Ferreira to a freezer stocked with meat where they shot him too, execution style.

The gunmen then turned their attention to a security camera sited close to the ceiling to the right and shot and damaged it.

In a room on the lower flat was a iron safe in which were two other safes containing gold jewellery and cash. These were taken along with a weapon.

Proceeding upstairs, the men entered a room where they stole a third safe with a number of weapons and ammunition and also ransacked the room.

A vital component from a monitor attached to the camera and which was on the upper flat was also removed.

Sources told the Chronicle that a total of six shot guns, five revolvers, 50 x 32 ammo and 25 x 12 gauge ammunition were stolen.

Upon leaving the miner’s home, the armed men discharged shots at a passing taxi, killing Dexter Adrian, the driver and injuring White, a passenger.

Continuing their rampage, the next target for the gunmen was the home of Gurudat Singh, also on First Avenue.

A tearful Singh recalled hearing a commotion outside and initially thought it was as a result of a drive-by shooting. However, as he was about to move towards the front of the house for a view outside, he heard someone saying “Hey this is Buddy Mangru place”.

The man, who is licensed to carry a shotgun and whose business was previously attacked in 1992 when he and his family were tied up, said he immediately armed himself with his shotgun.

However, the gunmen who were determined to gain entry used a sledge hammer to shatter a window and break out some concrete blocks.

Upon gaining entry to the lower flat, they broke the lock to the door leading upstairs but by then the family had firmly secured themselves in a secret hiding place in the house.

Each of the three rooms upstairs was ransacked and the gunmen took away two brief cases with documents.

Meanwhile, one resident said the persistent barking of their pet dog caused a male householder to venture outside, and he saw the gunmen lying in bushes nearby arguing among themselves.

It was while on their exit that they attacked the crew on two vessels, ‘Davie II’ belonging to the conglomerate, Banks DIH Limited and ‘Little Giant’, which were moored alongside the Transport and Harbours Stelling.

The men who were sleeping in their hammocks were hauled outside, made to lie on the wharf and each shot execution-style, in the head.

One of the ‘Little Giant’ crew survived because he had stepped out to make a purchase, the Chronicle was told.

Reports are that six persons, including one female, had travelled to Bartica Sunday afternoon.

It was observed that some men were on hand to receive them.

Immediately following the attack, police and joint services ranks were air-dashed to Bartica and have fanned out to outlying communities in a bid to capture these heavily armed and extremely dangerous criminals.

A high-level team of Government ministers, including Mr. Clement Rohee, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, Ms. Priya Manickchand, Dr. Jennifer Westford, Ms. Carolyn Rodrigues and Mr. Robeson Benn, were visible in the community from very early Monday (yesterday morning) to lend support to the victims and other residents of the community and the security forces.

Also arriving at Bartica yesterday were Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin and Raphael Trotman of the Alliance For Change (AFC).