Kaieteur pressmen walk off job

Lall added that editorial staff had to assist in the pressroom to ensure the newspaper’s Thursday edition was printed and distributed.

Another pressman and a guard who were injured in the shooting, remained warded at hospital yesterday. Lall said the press room supervisor who managed to escape the murderous onslaught, peeped out from where he was hiding and saw his colleagues being executed. “I think he is in need of psychological counselling,” Lall said.

He described the killers as “a bunch of punks”, out to create fear. Lall said the company will assist grieving relatives offset funeral expenses. He said Kaieteur will be putting together a financial package for the families.

He spoke to Ag Commissioner of Police Henry Greene about arming his staff yesterday and added that applications for gun licenses were sent in two years ago, but he never received a response.

He said Greene told him, he (Greene) would look into the applications. “If reporters are not competent to carry a firearm, who is,” Lall asked. Lall said the Kaieteur News had an aggressive “straight up, no nonsense” style of reporting and believed the murders were meant to send a message to all media workers.