PARAMARIBO--A man who had barricaded himself inside his house with four trip-wired shotguns pointing outward, has been shot dead by police. The incident happened on Thursday in the village of Albina in District Marowijne.
Police say Patrick M., who went by the nickname Bot, had been a known felon. In January 2016 reports were filed against him for sexual abuse and rape. It was then that police realised that he had taken precautions at his house against intruders; an officer who had gone to the house to arrest him was nearly shot by a shotgun that Bot had placed in the yard. The policeman had almost stepped on the trip wire attached to the trigger. “Bot had placed the gun there for police officers who dared to come arrest him. Luckily it was discovered in time and a tragedy was prevented,” police said in their press release.
It is unclear how come Bot managed to remain on the loose since then.
Police say that last week new charges were brought against him for theft of a chainsaw. On Thursday, when officers went to his house, he came out and attacked them with a piece of wood. “The officers fired warning shots in the air, but that did not stop him,” police said.
One shot that the officers fired at him struck Bot in his waist. He was taken to the Academic Hospital in Paramaribo, where he passed away on Friday.
Inside his house police found four shotguns that he had trip wired.
It was the second deadly police shoot out in one week. On Saturday, September 17, three men were shot and killed by police, after they were caught red-handed robbing a store in Paramaribo. A fourth robber survived the shooting. Police have mostly received praise for the shooting, but there have also been critics who pointed out that while crime should not be tolerated, police do not always have to use deadly force.
