RSS team begins investigation into shooting death of Linden men

Apr 13, 2025 News

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…meets families, visits crime scenes

Kaieteur News-  Members of the Regional Security System (RSS), on Saturday, met with the families of the two young men from Linden who were killed by members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

The Police Force, in a statement to the media on Saturday, said that “ranks of Guyana Police Force Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and a team of investigators from the Regional Security System (RSS) visited the mining town of Linden to continue investigations into the fatal shooting of Ronaldo Peters and Keon Fogenay.

The OPR ranks and RSS investigators, along with the families, visited the crime scenes.

The meeting among the RSS team, OPR ranks and the two families was confirmed by Linden Mayor Sharma Solomon.

“There was a meeting with the RSS and the families, we are going to return tomorrow. They have outlined a couple things to us. I will return shortly to give a better update, but the meeting, just concluded, well the first meeting in fact. They’re going to return tomorrow to have a further update with the family, to take some statements,” Solomon said in a live Facebook post.

The mayor explained that the RSS team comprises three officers from two Caribbean states- Barbados and Saint Lucia- who are in Guyana to conduct the independent investigations the government promised. The trio reportedly visited the crime scenes on Saturday as part of their investigation.

The families of the deceased and the other members of the Mayor and Town Council requested a copy of the terms of reference for the investigation.

“As we said before, we will remain very engaged with this matter, for the family to know that the community is here to support them, and for the community to be updated on the type of justice that the families get… to ensure that these two young men who were gunned down the by the Guyana Police Force… members of the Guyana Police Force …that they get that sort of justice,” the mayor stressed.

Solomon disclosed that post-mortem examinations were done on the remains of both men, and it was concluded that they were both shot by live rounds. A round was recovered from Fogenay, and Solomon is urging preservation of the evidence so that it can be of use in the investigations.

Further, Solomon said he is pleased that the RSS members referenced the Henry boys’ murder and the fact that justice is yet to be served in that case.

Meanwhile, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Amanza Walton-Desir, who was also in Linden, said, “You can’t ignore these things. I think very often people operate as if you’re supposed to just forget that this has happened. They’re obviously concerned. They’re obviously concerned… I myself share that concern. I think it is for government to commit to transparency and to accountability. Justice continues to evade us. I will not want to say more to prejudice the investigations.”

Kaieteur News understands that the RSS three-member team arrived in Guyana on Friday.

Last week, the mining town descended into chaos after 23-year-old Ronaldo Peters was shot dead by a member of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

The residents of Linden have dubbed the shooting death a murder even as the police officer responsible for Peters’ death claims that his gun accidentally went off. The police’s claim was disputed by surveillance footage, which showed him running behind Peters with a gun. Shortly after, the police officer was seen fetching the injured man by his clothes.

As the video footage circulated, residents of the mining town, especially from Peters’ community, were angered. The situation quickly sparked protests, which descended into chaos, resulting in the death of another youth identified as 32-year-old Keon Fogenay, also known as ‘Dan’, a father of four, the youngest being around 3 years old.

Roads were blocked, bringing motor vehicular traffic in the town to a standstill. Several protestors and police officers were injured in violent clashes. The protest began at Half Mile, Wismar, Linden, where Peters was killed, but stretched across the Wismar Bridge. Rubber pellets were fired along with tear gas as Lindeners blocked the Bridge with burning tyres. Some protestors say live rounds were also fired into the crowd – one of them killing Fogenay.

One protester alleged that the rank who killed Fogenay during the protest was firing tear gas at the angry crowd, but reportedly stopped what he was doing and pulled out his service weapon and shot the young man who was a neighbour and close friend of the Peters.

Protestors reportedly recovered the spent shells as evidence. Meanwhile, speaking with Kaieteur News, Fogenay’s brother, Ronel (only name given), said that Fogenay was killed 15 minutes after arriving from Georgetown. “He was not even at the protest, he did just passing through,” Ronel claimed while recounting that he was operating a taxi when he heard that someone was shot at the protests. At the time, he did not know it was his brother, but only later found out when he decided to “go and see who is the victim.”

Fogenay, according to his relatives, was shot in the head. A cellphone recorded video of persons rushing him to the hospital showed him bleeding from a wound around the left eye. News of his death triggered violence, with protestors attacking police officers, forcing them into retreat.

Police officers were caught on video running from protestors as they hurled bottles, bricks and other missiles at them. When Kaieteur News arrived, there was some calm but burning debris, spent shells from the rubber pellets, broken gas bottles, and cannisters of tear gas littered the roadways.

Protestors stood nearby, some of them injured but remained dedicated to keeping the road blocked. They told Kaieteur News that they do not trust the justice system and the police’s word.

“We want to see them in handcuffs… We ain’t want hear deh pon close arrest,” a protester said.

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