Armed bandits invade Rose Hall Town business, escape with cash & vehicle

Armed bandits carted off cash and a motor vehicle after storming Shanie’s Liquor and Grocery Store in Rose Hall Town, Corentyne Berbice, on Monday evening.
The incident reportedly took place at about 21:00h, leaving the family traumatised. Owner Shanie Ramsingh related that the men gained entry into the shop moments after she had closed for the day.
“Well, on Monday night at about 9 o’clock I closed my shop… and was gaffing with a customer just by that pool table,” Ramsingh recounted. She said the attack unfolded suddenly.
“When all of a sudden I see three men from this direction… they appear in front of me just like that,” she said. “The two pass me when the third one shoot something up in the air, which is a gunshot.”
Realising they were under attack, Ramsingh said she sought safety. “I sneak into my shop and lock it, where I know I’m quite secure,” she explained.
While Ramsingh secured herself, the suspects moved next door to her nephew’s house, located within the same yard.
Stephen Ramsingh, 26, said he initially mistook the gunshot for something else. “I heard a pop, something like a squib burst… so I thought it was a novel, somebody who can burst a squib,” he said.

Seconds later, he said, one of the men was standing over him with a weapon.
“Next thing I saw, one man with a high-powered weapon pointing the gun at my head, saying, ‘Where the effing money and gold is?’” he recalled.
Despite repeatedly telling the men he had no gold or large sums of cash, Stephen said the bandits continued to threaten him. “I said, ‘Man, I don’t have no gold, no money,’” he said. “But they saw the money on top of the barrel, and they collected the money.”
He said he was struck during the robbery.
“They get a slap across me with the man with the high-powered weapon across my head,” he added. Stephen said approximately $25,000 was taken from him.
“Just about $25,000. That’s what I have in my possession,” he said. He described the suspects as young and heavily disguised.
“All of them was well-masked… had construction gloves, construction clothes. Long-sleeve shirt and everything,” he said. “These fellows are very rapid, and they are young fellows… between 15 to 19 years of age.”
Meanwhile, Ramsingh said the bandits’ movements appeared coordinated. After robbing her nephew, she said they encountered her cousin, who was arriving at the property.
“My cousin… she was coming to visit my niece and pulling up in the car… they decided to drag her out of the car… and take the car and drive off,” she said.
The car was later recovered. The entire ordeal, she said, happened within minutes.
“Oh, I’m so traumatised… until now, I can’t… it traumatised me,” she said. “Although they didn’t get to do me anything, I feel it. Because I imagine if they would have get me, what would have happened?”
Ramsingh also raised concerns about public safety in the area, pointing to the frequent bursting of squibs, youths loitering late at night, overgrown bushes providing escape routes, and loud motorcycles masking suspicious movements.
“I’m asking the Guyana Police Force to please look into this. This is very serious,” she said.
The suspects fled the scene, and investigations are ongoing.