At precisely 6:14pm on Friday, July 19, 2024, two Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members were seen entering Dhaka’s Banasree G Block.

One of them—a tall man in a red helmet—held a shield and baton. The other, shorter and clad in a tactical vest marked “BGB,” was armed with a 7.62mm Type 56 rifle, a Chinese-manufactured variant of the AK series. This identification was confirmed through verified footage and independent weapons analysis.

Just nine seconds into the footage, the armed BGB officer opens fire. He first shoots leftward, then moves ahead and fires another shot to the right.

A photograph taken shortly after shows a body lying still on the pavement in front of a G Block shop—the same location where the second shot had landed.

In a separate video clip, the same officer is seen taking aim down two different roads—first toward Road 1 of F Block, and then again along Road 1 of G Block—before firing his rifle.

One of these bullets is believed to have struck and killed 14-year-old Ashiqul Islam. Two eyewitnesses confirmed this, supported by photos and video evidence from the scene.

The fatal round, likely fired from a Type 56 rifle, entered just below Ashiqul’s left ear and exited from the opposite side of his head.

Investigators matched footage from both Banasree and nearby Rampura, establishing that the same BGB officer was present at both sites. Further identification—through sources within intelligence agencies, tribunal officials, and reporters—named the shooter as Lt Col Redwanul Islam.

Shah Alam, a local businessman, was with Ashiqul when he was shot.

“It happened between the Asr and Maghrib prayers,” he recounted. That matches the 6:14pm timestamp of the verified video.

“I met Ashiqul after joining the protest earlier in the afternoon. He was just a child but fearless. He would scout out BGB and police movements and report back to us,” said Alam.

As tensions rose, a BGB armored vehicle arrived near the G Block entrance. Protesters had already erected makeshift blockades using logs and debris. As clashes intensified, demonstrators retreated into the residential alleyways of Banasree.

Amid this chaos, two BGB soldiers—one visibly armed—moved into G Block. Verified footage backs this account.

Alam said he saw a man collapse near a shop just seconds after the officers opened fire. He, Ashiqul, and a group of about 15 others fled into a narrow lane off G Block.

“All the building gates were locked, but a woman from a nearby home let us in. We were rushing to the garage. Ashiqul was behind me,” said Alam. “Suddenly, he turned around—as if to take one last look at the soldiers—before attempting to return. Then I heard a shot. When I looked back, I saw him fall. Blood was pouring from his head and mouth.”

The homeowner, Mahbuba Kayes Lucky, corroborated Alam’s version of events.

Positioned about 84 meters away, Lt Col Redwan allegedly fired the fatal shot at the moment Ashiqul turned, aligning him perfectly in the line of fire. The bullet’s trajectory and entry wound strongly suggest the boy was moving sideways when hit.

Ashiqul’s death certificate, issued by Advanced Hospital in Banasree, officially cites a gunshot wound as the cause.

His mother, Alisha Afroze, recounted her last memory of him. “He left to join the protests after 3:00pm. I was worried when he didn’t come back, but I couldn’t go out. Gunshots rang through the neighborhood until well past 9:30.”

It wasn’t until 10:00pm that a fellow protester showed her a video of an unidentified body at the hospital. “I immediately knew it was him. I raised him alone. He was my whole world. I fainted the moment I saw him.”

She retrieved his body around 11:00pm and arranged for an ambulance to take him back to Dinajpur, their hometown, for burial.