PARAMARIBO--A man suspected of an attempted break-in at a house in northern Paramaribo, was found dead in a nearby neighbour’s yard Monday afternoon.
Police say that they suspect that the man was probably one of two suspects who ran away when they were caught trying to enter a house at Akkerboomweg late Sunday night. Police officers patrolling nearby, joined the pursuit and opened fire on the men. The hunt was suspended when the suspects were thought to have escaped.
Around 4:30 Monday afternoon though, a nearby resident found a dead body lying just outside his fence. The man, who was wearing his hair in dreadlocks, was lying face down; his body showed one gunshot wound to the upper torso.
Police say the man has not been identified, but they suspect that he is one of the two men who were chased away from the house invasion. They suspect that the bullet that killed him was fired from a police service weapon.
This year has so far seen a number of incidents during which suspects were killed by police officers. In January two criminals were shot dead and two police officers were injured after a violent robbery in Paramaribo North ended in a fierce shoot-out between a police patrol unit and a band of robbers. Four robbers were arrested. And in March a policeman shot and killed a man who he caught red-handed trying to break into his house. In February two robbers were killed in two separate cases by officers of the Central Intelligence Department.
There have also been several killings by citizens who were duped by robbers and then took the law into their own hands. Last week a man chopped his assailant to death with a machete and the week before that a farmer shot and killed a man he caught stealing bananas from his farm.
