ALLEGED FEMALE BANDIT SHOT DURING ATTEMPTED HOLD-UP OF SERVICE STATION; INCREASED GUN CRIMES SPARKING FEAR AMONG RESIDENTS
A young woman who was allegedly involved in an attempted robbery of a Golden Grove gas station is hospitalized under police watch.
Reports say she was shot in the leg by a police officer who was doing private security work at the service station.
A source says the female was apprehended after she attempted to jump a nearby fence and her clothing became hooked on it.
Three other alleged accomplices managed to escape. However, their images – along with the young woman who was held – have been widely circulated via social media, as the Police investigate the incident.
The incident occurred at about 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 24, and
area residents recount hearing several shots discharged. One man claims he heard up to eight gunshots at the time the hold-up was attempted.
Meanwhile, residents are expressing concerns about the spate of robberies and gun-related offences taking place across the island. Several persons point to the fact that a State of Emergency is currently in place and, yet, these crimes are taking place in broad daylight.
“Crime is the emergency; not no COVID!” an outraged senior tells REAL News.
“After that kidnapping in Jolly Harbour, Police should be swarming the place every day. But not so! They are not even patrolling at night to make sure nobody break curfew,” the man charges. “I am out on the street up to 1 a.m., and I never see one yet,” he says.
The gun crimes – though targetting mostly businesses – are scaring families, particularly since a food vendor was shot in his Newgate Street home on Thursday. The victim, 60-year-old Oswald Matthison, is hospitalized with injuries to his lower abdomen.
That was the third such robbery to have occurred within the past week. On Tuesday, June 22, a man went into a supermarket on Dickenson Bay Street, held a gun to the cashier’s head, and demanded money. He made off with several items, including over $1,000 in cash.
Before that, on Saturday, June 19, a gun-toting robber made off with an undisclosed sum of money from a newly opened Chinese supermarket on lower Church Street.
Adding to residents’ worry is the discovery, earlier this week, of more than 300 rounds of ammunition at the Deep Water Harbour.
