In this Mike Norville picture, workmen are rehabilitating a stretch of road on the West Coast Berbice Highway.

According to proprietor Bibi Nisha, the first victim, was in the grocery shop entertaining customers about 8:45 hours when the gunmen walked in and showed her the gun which one of them placed on the counter and demanded she hand over the money.

At the time four male villagers were playing a friendly game of dominoes outside the shop while two other customers were seated inside the shop having a drink.

She took the afternoon's sales and placed it on the counter but the gunman demanded she open the door to the shop.

"I told him that I was going for the key inside and ran in the house and slammed the door shut and barred it," said the woman.

This aggravated the gunman who discharged three rounds after the proprietor.

Nisha said that after she secured the door she turned off the lights and ran upstairs to alert her husband, who was in the upper flat of the building.

The bandits then proceeded to rob the six customers of their valuables; a cellular phone, a wedding band, two gold chains, and $1,040. They were forced to lie facedown on the floor.

The bandits on their way out fired a fourth round at the upper flat of the building, breaking a louver pane in the process before they calmly walked off to rob another shop a short distance away.

Nisha told the Guyana Chronicle that she has been doing business for some 17 years now and this was the first robbery, having lived for some 25 years at the location.

Four spent shells were recovered from Nisha's home after the incident.

At Lot 107 Canterbury Walk, Janet Price, proprietor of the shop and her friend were seated in front of her shop, customarily chatting, when the three gunmen walked up to her and told her to take off her bangles.

Price said she first thought it was a joke and began laughing, but the young gunmen became annoyed and brandished a gun, and began stripping the woman of her jewellery.

Price said that he then asked who the owner of the shop was.

One of the gunmen peeped into the shop and took out six cigarettes that were inside a bottle and pocketed them, while his two accomplices looked on.

Price's friend was asked to take off her chain. She told the gunmen that it was not gold and they walked off leaving the two frightened women there.

As the men were leaving Price was about to make a dash to her house when one of the gunmen approached her asked her where she was going.

"I told him that I was going to urinate and he said to urinate right there, and I went to sit because I felt he would shoot me if I moved," said the woman.

The women were oblivious to the gunshots, which were fired at Nisha's residence minutes before because of the loud music that was blasting from several music systems that evening.

Price estimated her loss at around $100,000 and is thankful she was not injured in the robbery.

She related that the police responded promptly to the call but did not pursue the gunmen, who some felt were still in the area.

From all indications the three young men who were unmasked have since been identified as visitors to the village who came that night through the cane fields, which is located aback of the village.

The police yesterday said no arrests had yet been made.