Christmas Falls shootout…Slain gunman still unidentified

Jun 09, 2008 News

– man detained in Kwakwani
– Joint Services on trail of fleeing gang

The body of a gunman, who was shot dead during a shootout with members of the Joint Services last Friday at Christmas Falls, remains unidentified.
Yesterday, relatives of a Buxton man whom Police have identified as a member of the notorious gang believed to be involved in the shootout, denied that the body was his after viewing it at the Georgetown Public Hospital’s mortuary.

There were indications that the dead man might have been a Buxtonian known only as ‘Mud-up’.
However, after viewing the body repeatedly, relatives claimed that there was too much uncertainty to come to a definitive conclusion.
According to relatives, the dead man’s badly swollen face certainly did not help them, a situation made worse by a bullet hole in the right side jaw.
The body also bore huge bullet holes to the chest and right shoulder.
The relatives were questioned by Police who had accompanied them to the mortuary, but no useful information was obtained.
While the relatives did not recognize the remains as that of ‘Mud Up,’ they did not distinguish it as anyone they knew.
Last Friday, ranks from the Joint Services ambushed the notorious gang at their hideout some 300 miles up the Berbice River.
During the confrontation, one man was killed while the ranks believe that they wounded others. One of the fleeing men was identified as wanted man Rondell Rawlins, called ‘Fine Man’.
Police say they saw blood along the trail the gunmen had fled.
Police stated that those who escaped with Rawlins included Richard Ramcharran, called ‘Uncle Willie,’ ‘Magic,’ and ‘Chung Boy’.
The ranks recovered three FN rifles, four shotguns, and a .32 revolver; two AK-47 magazines, seven FN rifle magazines, and several rounds of ammunition from the gunmen’s well-stocked hideout.
According to a statement, the three FN rifles were stolen from the Bartica Police Station during the armed attack on that community on February 17, 2008.
The .32 revolver and two of the shotguns were stolen from the home of Bartica miner Chunilall Babulall.
The Joint Services ranks were said to have also found a diary which provided “incontrovertible evidence” of Rawlins’s planning and execution of the killings at Lusignan and Bartica.
The Police said that the wanted man also planned to take vengeance for the death of his sister, Marcyn King, who was shot dead as she was returning home from her place of employment, on March 10 last.
According to the statement, the diary also contained several telephone numbers.
Yesterday, residents of Kwakwani, which is some 90 miles from the gunmen’s hideout, told Kaieteur News that a large Joint Services contingent was still present in the community.
The Skyvan aircraft and a helicopter could also be seen flying regularly, they said.
Kaieteur News understands that the ranks have arrested at least one man whom they suspect may be linked to the gunmen.
However, this newspaper was told that a Kwakwani resident who was arrested and interrogated in Georgetown has since been released.