Guyana's Acting Police Commissioner, Henry Greene

The attacks came as the country prepares for general elections which in previous years have been marred by bloodshed and violence.  The shootings occurred at the same time as police were assisting prison authorities in restoring order at the country's largest prison facility, the Camp Street Prison.  Inmates had smashed windows and attempted to break through prison bars as they protested against general conditions.

Acting Police Commissioner, Henry Greene, said the disturbance at the prison was an attempt to distract the security forces.

The gunmen shot the guard at the press room, Julius Degrace, and forced their way into the building where they confronted two of the workers.  They demanded that the others come out from hiding and of the three, two came from the lavatory, while another was pulled from a locker room.  The guard survived and is in a critical condition at a city hospital.

One of the Kaieteur News survivors, Haimchand Harripersaud, said the guard at the gate to the printery shouted, "Gunmen coming," and the workers rushed to the back of the press room as ten armed men descended on the Eccles operation. 

Three of the workers hid in the lavatory while another sought refuge in a locker room.  The witness related that the gunmen placed his colleagues face-down on the floor.  The survivor said that from his hiding place he heard someone say, "Kill them."

Gunshots rang out.  He said that from his hiding place he could see nothing.  When it was over he saw five of his colleagues face down.  They had all been shot in the head execution style.

Dead are Mark Maikoo, Chitram 'Boyo' Persaud, Eon Wigman and Richard Stuart.

Shazim Mohamed is in a critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital having been shot in the head.  He too had been placed on the ground and shot.

Earlier that night, one man was reportedly killed and two others injured as a group of gunmen laid siege to Bagotstown, a nearby community shortly before 10 pm.  Private security officials in the area reported that a white car was seen maneuvering in the vicinity. 

Police officials say that the gunmen traveling in the car encountered a man driving a sports utility vehicle and opened fire, killing him.  Another driver had his vehicle riddled with bullets. 

Kaieteur News publisher, Glenn Lall, said the attack was a direct attempt to stop the work of the newspaper.  He vowed to maintain the printing of the papers and, in fact, printed a Wednesday edition of the paper at the same facility after the bodies of the slain had been removed.