The co-owner of a popular store on Regent Street was shot dead yesterday morning by two bandits who escaped by running up Regent Street with an undisclosed amount of money. The incident threw that part of Regent Street into chaos.

Forty-two-year-old, Sharool Persaud known as 'Buck', co-owner of Boyo's Variety Store and of La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara was shot and killed by two unmasked men who entered the store pretending to be customers just before midday yesterday. According to reports, the woman may have had a tug of war with one of the bandits over a bag she had, which reportedly contained a large sum of money.

Stabroek News understands she was shot at point blank range to the head and was also shot in the buttocks and left thigh. This newspaper understands that a 9 mm pistol was used in the shooting as the police recovered four spent shells for that type of weapon at the scene. It is believed that the gunmen may have trailed the woman and her husband, Ajodha Persaud known as 'Boyo', from one of the city's Scotia Bank branches where they had gone to transact business.

According to a release from the police, around 11.40 am yesterday Mrs Persaud was in the cashier cage when the two men entered the store. They browsed, pretending to be customers then suddenly one of them rushed into the cashier cage with a firearm and demanded cash. In the process, he discharged several rounds hitting the woman about the body. The two then escaped on foot after grabbing an undisclosed sum of cash and a bag with documents.

The scene in front of the store, which is a branch of Boyo's Variety Store located just two buildings away from the main store, was chaotic as family members and curious onlookers milled around. Mayor Hamilton Greene, who said the woman's husband was his good friend, President of the Georgetown Chambers of Commerce, Gerry Gouveia along with several members of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) were among the persons who rushed to the scene as word of the shooting got around.

"Is who dead? Nah man it can't be Boyo's wife dah woman is a very nice lady," were some of the comments from persons in the crowd. Some employees, who were locked out of the store, were seen openly wailing in front of the store.

The police had difficulty keeping the crowd from converging in front of the store on the pavement even though they had put up a tape to keep the crowd away.

About two hours after the shooting the woman's body was removed from the store by employees of Lyken Funeral Home wrapped in a white sheet, which had been purchased at a nearby store, minutes before. The crowd mobbed the undertakers and followed them to the hearse in an attempt to view the body.

Another hour elapsed, during which several senior police officers could be seen moving in and out of the store conducting investigations, before the media was allowed into the store to speak to the woman's husband.

The grieving Persaud told reporters that they had returned from the bank about half an hour before the gunmen struck. He said he was in the storeroom at the back, when he heard his wife calling out to him. Before he could respond to his wife's call, Persaud said, he heard a gun shot followed by another which prompted him to seek cover in the store's bathroom. Some time after, the man said, he ventured into the store and saw his wife lying on the floor of the cashier cage bleeding. He said rushed to her and picked her up only to see blood gushing out of a wound in her head. He said he realised there and then that the woman he had been married to for over ten years was no more. He said he feels that the bandits may have trailed them from the bank.

The man could not give any account of what really transpired as he said some of his staff members who would have witnessed the incident were with the police giving statements.

According to reports reaching this newspaper, the two men had first gone into the original store and were later seen hanging around in front of it, before they walked to the new store where the Persauds were. That store was opened only about two and a half weeks ago.

A senior citizen who said she was a customer in the store at the time of the shooting told Stabroek News that she did not know what really was happening until she saw one of the men with a gun. The shaken woman said that the men went into the store and after walking around went to the cashier cage, which has no glass but rather just a waist-high wall around it. She said she saw one of the men and the woman tugging with a bag, before the man shot her causing the people in the store to seek cover. The woman said she quickly left the store after the bandits exited. Stabroek News was told that some of the money from the bag may have fallen out as money was seen lying on the floor close to the cashier cage.

A distraught Persaud said yesterday that he did not feel he would close down and migrate even though he is tempted to, as he has to think of the many persons in his employ. He said he and his wife were married in 1990 and they have two children ages, nine and eleven. The father and husband said he is not sure what the security forces have in store to cope with the ongoing criminal activities, but said he would be keeping a close eye on the situation.

He pointed out that persons are of the belief that bandits only strike at night, not being aware of the brazenness of the criminals. He said no one would have guessed that bandits would have walked into his store full of customers in broad daylight and would have shot and killed his wife before escaping on foot with money without being caught.

Persons in the vicinity of the store said they had not heard any gun shots and were made aware that something happened only when an alarm was raised.

Persaud yesterday describ-ed his wife as his life partner stating that they travelled all around the world together to do business. He said they had already bought tickets to travel to Japan in a few days and that they were only waiting for the completion of the month of Ramadan to be on their way as his wife was a devout Muslim.

The woman's popularity was evident among the scores of employees who were seen crying and others with dazed expressions on their faces. Some who worked at other locations rushed to the scene on hearing the news.

Persaud is the second business person to be killed in less than a week. A Montrose shop owner was killed last Tuesday night.