23-Year-Old Man Dies After Armed Confrontation with Police in Turkeyen
By Travis Chase | HGP Nightly News
A 23-year-old man, Joshua Taylor, is dead following an early morning confrontation with police at his Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara home on Thursday.
According to police sources, officers responded to reports that Taylor had armed himself with his father’s licensed firearm and was discharging rounds indiscriminately in the neighborhood.
“After I hear the gunshots, I got up and looked out the window. I saw him with the firearm and people running,” recounted Taylor’s aunt, Sabrina Taylor.
As police arrived on the scene, Taylor reportedly opened fire at the responding officers. Police returned fire, but it remains unclear whether any of the bullets struck Taylor at that time. When he ran out of ammunition, police say they subdued, handcuffed, and transported him to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Family members who spoke to the media said multiple relatives tried to calm Joshua and convince him to surrender peacefully, but their efforts failed.
“He shoot at the police, yes,” one relative admitted. “But then all them [police] guns point in here… the place sandwich. It was chaos.”
The motive behind the young man’s actions remains unclear. Relatives suggest that the confrontation may have stemmed from a verbal argument that occurred earlier that day.
At the time of this report, the Guyana Police Force has not issued an official statement, noting only that investigations are ongoing.
The incident has sparked fresh concern over mental health, firearm access, and use of force protocols by police in volatile situations.
