Linden gang behind deadly home invasion included at least five 

Police have issued wanted bulletins for two Linden men in connection with last Saturday’s home invasion at Block 42, Wismar that left Johnson Bowen and Manuel De Santos dead, and 20-year-old Denzil Roberts seriously wounded.

Wanted are John Ross, called ‘JR’, whose last known address was given as Five Corner, Linden, and Troy Bruce, 30,  called ‘Blacka’. Police gave his last known address as Lot 26 Wismar Hill, Linden.

The bulletins reveal that the gang behind last Saturday’s attack was larger than initially thought, and included persons from Linden who might have been familiar with the movements of 58-year-old dredge owner Manuel De Santos, who recently returned from the interior and appears to have been their intended target.

There are indications that at least one suspected gang member was charged some years ago in connection with a spate of armed robberies along the Soesdyke/Linden and elsewhere.

Detectives, including a team from the Force’s Major Crimes Division, are questioning a suspect who was nabbed in a house, about half a mile away from the scene of the robbery. The body of a badly chopped man, who is still to be identified, was found in the same house in which his alleged accomplice had hidden.

It is alleged that the wife of 58-year-old De Santos awoke at around 04.00hrs on Saturday, May 13,  after hearing strange noises in the living room.

She then saw three men in the house. Two were armed with guns and were dragging Johnson Bowen, who was hearing impaired.

Her 20-year-old nephew, Denzil Roberts, who lives nearby, reportedly barged through the front door and began to struggle with one of the robbers. Bowen and De Santos then armed themselves with a stick and cutlass and began to beat and chop the intruders.

This threw the gang into a state of panic, and they opened fire.

De Santos and Denzil Roberts were reportedly shot in the house, while Bowen was killed when he pursued the gunmen as they were exiting the back door.

Roberts, who was shot in the face, was  rushed to hospital.

Police later went to a house in Block 22, Wismar, where they found the dead man, whose body bore five chop wounds, and his accomplice.