Two armed men posing as customers walked into a lumberyard in Charlestown yesterday afternoon and shot the owner before fleeing with a quarter of a million dollars.

Lumber dealer, Parmanand Bhanu, who is also a Justice of the Peace, was shot in the leg. Up to yesterday he was in a stable condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Reports are that the men grabbed some $250, 000 cash from Bhanu. Bhanu is the owner of `City Supplies Lumber Yard' located at Lot 14 Drysdale Street, Charlestown.

One of Bhanu's employees told Stabroek News yesterday that the shooting occurred around 2:30 pm. He stated that two men on bicycles went to the lumberyard and asked for the price of wood. The man said the two them left but later returned. "One went to the mistress (Bhanu's wife) who was checking wood outside and the other went to Bhanu".

While in the office, the employee added, the man pulled out a gun and shot his boss in the left leg. The man said that after that the bandit robbed Bhanu of $250,000 cash. The two then made good their escape.

When this newspaper visited the hospital, Bhanu was being treated for his gunshot injury.