A high-stakes late-night shooting incident near the home of a senior Guyanese police official has pulled the country’s opposition leadership into a growing political and legal controversy, unfolding just hours before a key court hearing tied to a U.S. extradition case. The confrontation took place on Monday night, when Senior Superintendent Prem Narine, head of the Guyana Police Force’s Special Branch and a listed witness in an ongoing U.S. extradition request hearing, opened fire on a vehicle carrying Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed and two other companions.
According to an official statement from the Guyana Police Force, Narine told investigators he spotted a car moving slowly along Barr Street, where his residence is located. The vehicle passed his home once before circling back to the area a short time later. As it approached the property a second time, Narine told police he heard what he believed to be a gunshot coming from the vehicle. Fearing for his safety, he took cover and fired multiple rounds from his service weapon toward the car, which then fled the scene before it could be stopped by responding officers.
The timing of the incident is particularly notable: it occurred just several hours before Mohamed was scheduled to appear before the Guyana Court of Appeal for a civil challenge to the constitutionality of key provisions of the country’s Fugitive Offenders Act. Narine, who has already testified in the extradition hearing overseen by Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman, has publicly labeled Mohamed a threat to Guyana’s national security, and has linked him to a string of unsolved homicides. To date, however, Mohamed has never been formally charged with any of those alleged crimes.
After the shooting, officers intercepted the black Toyota Allion, bearing registration number PXX 5300, at the intersection of Vlissengen Road and Sandy Babb Street in the Kitty neighborhood. Inside the vehicle alongside Mohamed were 25-year-old Mario Mohamed of Timehri, East Bank Demerara, and 35-year-old Eugene Thorne, the driver, also from Timehri, East Bank Demerara.
During a search of the vehicle conducted with all three occupants present, police said they uncovered a .32 caliber Taurus pistol with no visible serial number, plus three live rounds of matching ammunition. All three men were taken into police custody on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition without a valid license. Forensic teams also recovered one spent .32 caliber shell casing on the south side of Barr Street, directly across from Narine’s residence, as well as four spent 9mm casings from the scene. All seized weapons, ammunition, and casings have been secured for upcoming ballistic testing, and investigators have announced they will review all available CCTV footage from nearby locations as part of their ongoing probe.
Mohamed and his defense attorney, Siand Dhurjon, have rejected the police’s account entirely. They allege that the unlicensed firearm found under the vehicle’s accelerator pedal was deliberately planted by law enforcement as a deliberate tactic to discredit the opposition leader ahead of his high-profile court appearance.