…open fire on Police during escape
A Triumph, East Coast Demerara family is now traumatised after armed bandits stormed their home on Friday night, robbing them of their valuables, but not before tying them up and terrorising them.
The incident occurred at sometime around 10:15h at the family’s home at Lot 9 Triumph Sideline Dam, Agriculture Road. The Police reported that three men, two of whom were armed with a handgun and a knife, confronted the family, holding them at gunpoint while ransacking the house in search of “money and gold”.
Harry Ram Bishundat, owner of the home, told Guyana Times that his son-in-law, his daughter, and his two granddaughters were downstairs at the time, while his son was in a room upstairs and he and his wife and grandson were in another room. 
The gates were locked, but the bandits gained entry into the yard by removing several pickets from the fence at the front of the yard. A neighbour had seen the men removing the pickets and had thought a drunken relative of the Bishundat family was having difficulty accessing the yard. He was about to help, but when he realised what was transpiring, he retreated into his home and immediately summoned the Police.
In the meanwhile, the bandits pounced on Bishundat’s son-in-law, holding him at gunpoint as they escorted him into the downstairs quarters, which his wife and two daughters were occupying at the time.
One of the gunmen then proceeded into the upper flat, dragged Bishundat’s son out into the hallway, and held him at gunpoint.
Upon hearing the commotion, Bishundat’s wife got out of bed to investigate, and as she entered the hallway, she screamed when she say what was happening.
The gunman forced her to lie on the floor, but her scream had alerted her husband to what was happening.
The gunman then hit her son on the head with the firearm. By this time, Bishundat got up and went to the bandit, telling him to take whatever he wanted. The second accomplice then brought up the four other family members and put them to lie on the floor with the other three.
They then cut the telephone and computer cords, using it to tie up the family members. Afterwards, they started to ransack the rooms, confiscating cash, jewellery and a few cellular phones.
The bandits were by this time in the house for about 10 minutes. It is believed that the third accomplice was keeping watch, since Bishundat said he only saw two of them in the house.
Bishundat recalled that about five minutes into the search, one of the perpetrators turned to the other to inform him that Police were outside the building. The men left the home shortly after.
Bishundat said he heard a gunshot and told his family to get back down on the floor, since they were up trying to free themselves from bondage.
The man said that with the Police in front of the yard, the bandits attempted to scale the back fence in their bid to escape, but the fence collapsed with them. Police have since recovered a hat and a pair of slippers near the fence. The family also recovered one of their stolen cell phones in the yard.
While Bishundat is not certain who had fired the shots, he said that neighbours claim the first shot was fired at the Police from a car in which the bandits arrived on the scene, which was parked nearby.
The neighbours allege that after discharging a round at the Police, the person in the car drove away when the ranks returned fire twice.
However, in a statement, the Police said ranks of a mobile patrol responded to a robbery-in-progress, and upon seeing the police, the armed bandit “discharged several rounds at the lawmen, who returned fire, but unfortunately, the suspects managed to elude the cops by scaling a southern fence and escaping.”
Up to press time, no arrests had been made.
