Top things to know
- Protesters gathered outside the Kitty Police Station in Georgetown on Oct. 13, 2026, demanding accountability after Guyana Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed was shot at and arrested.
- The Guyana Police Force says Senior Superintendent Prem Narine fired at a vehicle carrying Mohamed after hearing what he believed was a gunshot outside his Barr Street residence.
- Mohamed and his attorney, Siand Dhurjon, dispute that account, saying they were filming an excessive police security presence and that Narine's side opened fire first.
- Police say a search of the stopped vehicle yielded an unlicensed .32 Taurus pistol and ammunition, leading to charges against Mohamed, Mario Mohamed, and Eugene Thorne; Mohamed denies any connection to the weapon and alleges it was planted.
- The incident occurred amid an ongoing U.S. extradition hearing in which Narine is a witness, and hours before Mohamed was due in Guyana's Court of Appeal in a separate civil case.
Protesters gathered outside the Kitty Police Station in Georgetown on Oct. 13, 2026, demanding accountability after Guyana Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed was shot at and arrested following a late-night confrontation outside the home of a senior police official, with Mohamed and police offering sharply conflicting accounts of what happened.
Mohamed was arrested late Monday night after a shooting incident outside the Kitty, Georgetown residence of Senior Superintendent Prem Narine, head of the Guyana Police Force's Special Branch. According to a statement from the Guyana Police Force, Narine was at his residence when he observed a black Toyota Allion carrying Mohamed and two others driving slowly along Barr Street. Police say that when the vehicle passed a second time, Narine heard what he believed was a gunshot, took cover, and fired several rounds from his service firearm toward the vehicle, which then drove off.
Mohamed's camp disputes that account. Mohamed and his attorney, Siand Dhurjon, said the shooting happened as Mohamed and his companions were attempting to film what they described as an excessive police security presence at Narine's personal residence, and that it was Narine's side that opened fire first.
The vehicle was later stopped at the junction of Vlissengen Road and Sandy Babb Street, where Mohamed, 39, along with Mario Mohamed, 25, and driver Eugene Thorne, 35, were arrested. Police say a search of the car turned up a .32 Taurus pistol with no serial number and three live rounds of .32 ammunition, and that the three men were charged in connection with possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. Mohamed has denied any connection to the weapon, alleging it was planted in the vehicle by police during transit to the Kitty Police Station. He further alleges officers fired additional shots at the vehicle during the arrest and assaulted him.
Investigators recovered one spent .32 shell near Narine's residence and four spent 9mm shells from the scene, which police say will undergo ballistic examination alongside CCTV footage from the area.
The incident comes as Narine is a witness in an ongoing U.S. extradition hearing before Chief Magistrate Judy Latchman, in which he has described Mohamed as a national security threat over alleged involvement in a number of homicides, allegations for which Mohamed has never been charged. The shooting also occurred hours before Mohamed was due in Guyana's Court of Appeal in a separate civil case challenging the constitutionality of provisions in the Fugitive Offenders Act.
This is the latest in a series of arrests in recent months of the country's opposition leader and the second arrest in weeks of Mario Mohamed and Thorne. Mohamed has also had his Facebook page, with almost half a million followers, shut down, while his vehicles have been seized. On Saturday, a vehicle he was traveling in to visit constituents was clamped, and he was left without any means of transport.