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| Police Hunt for Bank Robbers |
| By Sheena Brooks |
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Police vans in front of RBC |
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A group of masked armed men held up the RBTT/Royal Bank of Canada Bank at Wellington Road, next to the Horsford’s Valu-Mart, on Thursday morning (July 1), and police have since launched a manhunt for the suspects.
Reports are that shortly after the bank opened to the public, at 8:00 a.m., a number of masked men entered the financial institution wielding guns. The Observer was reliably informed that the five men chased frightened customers out of the bank before demanding money. It was not said whether all of the bandits were brandishing weapons, or what type of guns they had in their possession.
Police were on the scene shortly after the robbers made their get-away. Luckily, neither customers nor staff was injured, though many of them appeared traumatized by the incident. Members of the Criminal Investigation Department questioned persons present during the robbery, while the bank remained closed to the public.
One individual who had just left the bank minutes before the robbery took place told The Observer that a Diamond Security armored truck was pulling up as he drove off and perhaps the robbers had planned the criminal act around that.
“I’m hearing that they went into the bank just after the Diamond Security truck left. Maybe they thought the truck was dropping off cash, but that truck only transports coins. So word is that the gunmen didn’t get any money. It didn’t look like they were interested in what little the customers may have had because people said they ran customers out. They were clearly after the big score,” he relayed.
Hours after the incident, members of the Strike Force and police could still be seen conducting mobile patrols in the areas surrounding the bank.
The Observer spoke with Assistant Commissioner of Police Joseph Richardson hours after the incident and was told that it was not known at that time if the robbers had absconded with any money. He did say that, “CID is at the scene carrying out investigations and police are still out looking for the suspects.”
This incident comes on the heel of several violent and gun-related crimes this past weekend. On Sunday a lone gunman held up the Cayon Police Station shortly after 10:00 p.m. Reports indicated that the gun-toting individual may have been in search of someone he thought was being held at the station. To date, police officials have not revealed the motive behind the incident. The gunman fled the scene, and up until press time had not been apprehended.
The day before (June 26), police informed that masked armed gunmen robbed a Carib Brewery truck that was delivering drinks in the Ottleys area.
“The robbers escaped with an undisclosed sum of money and a cell phone. No one was injured during the attack,” a police release said.
Police also responded to a shooting incident earlier that Saturday morning in the Soho area. Reports said that Damion Weekes of Trafalgar Village and an unnamed female native of Antigua were in the back seat of a vehicle when a gunman approached and fired a single shot into the car. Weekes was hit on an ear while the bullet grazed the back of the female’s head. They were treated and released from the JNF Hospital.
The nation reeled at reports that a British couple had been attacked in their Half Moon Bay home in the predawn hours on Thursday, June 24.
According to a police release, they responded to a report of a burglary and “investigations revealed that Julius and Kam Bertie of Half Moon Bay who are nationals of England were at their Half Moon Bay home when they were attacked and injured at approximately 2:10 a.m. After their attacker fled, the couple managed to drive to the Frigate Bay Police Station and make a report at approximately 2:17 a.m. The couple was transported to the JNF Hospital by police officers, and they were admitted in serious but stable condition.
This incident was eerily similar to the shooting death of retired British nationals James and Mildred Daniel in April. The couple, both in their 70’s, had returned to St. Kitts a few months prior to retirement, after living in the U.K. for many years. Their partially decomposed bodies were discovered in a bedroom of their Half Moon Bay home after neighbors reported a foul smell to police. The exact time of death was not determined. Police treated the incident as a robbery homicide. No suspects have been apprehended.
Leader of opposition party People’s Action Movement, Lindsay Grant, is calling the local crime situation “outrageous”. He said it was becoming glaringly obvious that crime was not isolated to any single area or simply attributable to gang-related violence.
“The crime situation in this country is simply outrageous and 16 homicides with only 1 arrest made in relation to any is totally unacceptable. The statistics show that an ever increasing proportion of the population is being traumatized and feels insecure. Even as too many try to fool themselves about crime being sequestered to just the gang members, the reality is that crime is pervasive and touches all of society. The detection rates continue to be stubbornly low.
“Scores of murderers, rapists, and other hardened criminals continue to roam free to stalk more victims,” he lamented. |
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