Assanah wasn’t a churchgoer, says Top Cop; hints at revenge attack

Police Commissioner (ag) David Ramnarine insisted that Kwame Assanah, one of the suspected bandits killed in the shootout with police last week, was not a “churchgoer” and he hinted at the possibility of a revenge attack by the accomplice who escaped.

According to the Police Force, two of the now dead men were trailing a bank customer and were about to execute a robbery at the Kitty Seawalls when law enforcement intervened. Police claimed that the men discharged rounds in the ranks’ direction and so they responded with gunfire.

• Suspected bandits killed in shootout with police

Seconds after the two men were gunned down, police said two men rode up on a CG motorcycle and opened fire, causing them to return fire, killing the third suspect while his accomplice escaped.

Speaking to reporters Monday morning, the Top Cop said his ranks were justified in the use of deadly Force against three men last week, saying evidence backed the Police’s actions.

“It is inescapable; the fact is, they were part and parcel of an arrangement to commit a criminal act with some serious consequences and I am happy that that has been averted,” he stated.

Ramnarine insisted that the bank customer was not a decoy; however, he said that the Force cannot release the customer’s name to the public.

Amid claims that one of the dead men, Kwame Assanah was innocent, Ramnarine argued that he was by no means a “churchgoer”.

“…it was said that he may have been the churchgoing type, he may have been impeccable, spotless, taintless…but, did we plant him with the other two who met their demise, did we put him there?”

The family of Assanah, who spoke with the News Room last week, insisted that the man was innocent and that he was recently granted clearance from the Police Force to start a new job as a debt collector as Courts.

But Ramnarine insisted that Assanah has been under the Police’s radar.

“I note that there may have been an error made when [the police said] Assanah had a criminal record. I would not hang him [police public relations officer] out in the cold but I chided him. But it is not to say that Assanah would not have come under the microscope, he is by no means, the churchgoing type,” Ramnarine said.

The Top Cop further warned that the Force was informed that the suspect who escaped the shootout is planning revenge.

“The one who got away, he is known, and if we don’t get to him, I dare say here…the information suggests that there may be an act of retribution and I will say no more at this point in time,” he told media operatives.

Ramnarine explained that police officers do not set out to execute suspects but he explained that in the circumstances, the ranks responded appropriately.

According to Ramnarine, it is one of those situations where you are “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”.