The Guyana Police Force is confident that the teenager who is wanted for questioning into the fatal shooting of a West Ruimveldt woman on Friday morning will be apprehended.
Dead: Florence Forde
One day after the incident, Acting Region Four Divisional Commander, Senior Superintendent Phillip Azore told Guyana Times that he is “100 per cent” certain that they will apprehend 18-year-old Timothy Evans, whose last known address is Lot 67 Front Road, West Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
Florence Forde, 59, of Lot 24 Front Road, West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, was shot to the eye after leaving her house to witness a commotion between two neighbours – Brian Wiltshire and Timothy Evans.
Wanted: Timothy Evans
Wiltshire, who was shot to the chest, has since been discharged from the hospital.
“The suspect is known and Police are in pursuant of that suspect. The other guy that was shot in the chest…was discharged from the hospital…He is known and we will get him,” the acting Divisional Commander affirmed on Saturday.
Initial reports are that the incident occurred at approximately 01:30h at West Ruimveldt, Georgetown. After hearing sounds of a distant quarrel in the neighbourhood, Forde would’ve left her house to check on what was happening, but shots rang out and she was shot once in the eye.
The woman’s granddaughter, Nicola Castello told Guyana Times that around 23:30h on Thursday, the family reportedly heard loud noises and voices coming from the street. There, two neighbours were engaged in a heated argument during which they armed themselves with cutlasses; one of the men also had a gun.
According to Castello, other men from the community also ventured out of their houses to witness what was transpiring. The commotion continued for some time, but relatives were unaware that Forde had opened the gate and gone outside. Castello said she stayed inside and the situation escalated when four consecutive shots rang out from a loaded firearm.
“We heard a scuffle, but we didn’t get up to see what was going on and then after 12, we hear it again, but we still didn’t get up. I said I’m not going outside, because I don’t know what’s going on…“Then after, we hear a banging by the zinc and we got up, open the door and we see like some boys, some had cutlass… and one of the guys had a gun. Everybody else who had cutlasses start scatter,” the granddaughter recalled.
“One man was outside by the gate on a bicycle. He and the one with the gun had an altercation and then he start firing shots. The first shot hit the man cutlass and he fire three shots after. I didn’t know my grandmother got shot until I hear my aunt say ‘you shot my mom’. She screamed out. Then when I hear my grandfather screaming, then I run over and saw the blood and everything.”
The elderly woman was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she succumbed a few hours later, at about 06:00h.
Hours later, Police issued a wanted bulletin for the teenager in relation to the incident. Anyone with information that would lead to the arrest of Evans is asked to contact the nearest police station on 911.
