DAYLIGHT ROBBERY By Sheena Brooks On Tuesday morning while Prime Minister Denzil Douglas was live on radio speaking to the issue of gun crimes, a shopkeeper was being gunned down in full view of his customers. At about 11 that morning, two masked young men entered a Cardin Avenue liquor shop and attempted to rob the establishment. The owner of the shop, Courtland Carter, was shot twice in the leg(s) and whisked to the JNF hospital. A trail of blood on the pavement marked where the popular shopkeeper narrowly escaped death. According to one of the shaken customers present during the attempted heist, the gunmen both wore ‘tams”pulled down over their faces with holes cut out for the eyes. “I see the fellows come inside with mask and gun and shouting “Don’t move!”I thought it was a joke “cause this is high day,”he told The Observer. He went on to reveal that while about 6 men and 2 women sat in the small shop, the gunmen entered “from out of nowhere”. He said most of the customers ran off despite being commanded not to move by the gun-wielding bandits. Carter, he said, was dragged out onto the sidewalk where he wrestled with the two gun men as they tried to reach into his pockets. They then forced him to sit on the pavement, demanding his money. The witness said he then heard two shots and saw the 60-something-year-old man bleeding from his leg and groin area. While on the scene, The Observer was told that the robbers were not able to get Carter’s money and those who knew him said he would have died before giving up his hard-earned cash. It was also said that several persons observed the two robbers fleeing the scene, running through a nearby street before running in the area of the Cenotaph near Horsford Road. They were described as the taller male being about 17 years old while many speculated the smaller assailant’s age to be around 12 years. Police collected what appeared to be two spent bullet casings from outside the shop as other law enforcement officers scoured the area as far east as Irishtown. Although many persons at the scene claimed to have seen the two running from the area, all said they never saw any faces. The usual sentiments of disbelief, fear and outrage were murmured with some saying if the men were not armed, they could have attacked them with “half-a-blocks”. Just two days prior, 20-year-old Anthony “Bounty”Williams was shot to death in Salt Pond Alley, Basseterre as he sat on the side of the road. He received several gunshots about is body and died during surgery. Police are investigating this and other recent shooting incidents, and are appealing to anyone with relevant information to contact the Criminal Investigations Department at 465-2241 ext. 220,230 or 236.
