An armed bandit appears to be on the loose in the Ottos area, after two reported incidents, one on Saturday, the other yesterday morning in which residents were accosted and robbed.
Reports indicate a lone gunman broke into a house on Scaville Street near Wato Disco shortly after 3 am while the occupants, a 45-year-old man, his wife and children, were asleep.
The Daily OBSERVER understands a witness to the burglary called 911 and reported the crime while it was still in progress.
The eyewitness said she saw the burglar wrestling with the backdoor and she informed a friend, who summoned police.
?The people have a little retail shop in front the house and the man was around the other side of the house standing by the back door. I know something was wrong because he was wearing a mask and had a shiny gun. So right away, I told my friend to call the police. When we called, they came almost right away and then I hear gunshots firing.?
The woman?s account corresponds with the police report that when they arrived on the scene, the burglar opened fire, exited through the back and scaled the fence on the western side of the property.
The lawmen returned fire but the gunman managed to escape.
Another resident recounted, ?Me min a sleep in me bed and all I hear was bam! Bam! Bam! I run under the bed because it sounded like the shooting was right outside me door.?
Further reports from the villager are that the gunman held the occupants of the house at gunpoint and took with him a quantity of money that was in the female occupant?s purse.
The shooter was reportedly wearing dark long pants and dark camouflage t-shirt at the time and was described as being about six feet tall.
In the other incident, at about 3:55 am Saturday, another resident living on Baldwin Street Ottos reported that a lone masked gunman broke into his home and stole a quantity of US and EC currency. The victim said he heard a ?shuffling? coming from outside his bedroom, so he got out of bed and observed that the gate at the entrance of the property was opened.
?I went outside and come face-to-face with a masked man who was holding a shiny gun in his hand. He shouted ?Hey? and I shout back ?Hey, what the hell you doing in my yard? and then I run back inside the house and shut the door. I also called out to everybody in the house to lock up dem room and secure the place and raise an alarm with all the neighbours,? the man recalled.
He added several of his neighbours rushed out their homes only to be confronted by the gun- wielding bandit who pointed his weapon around and threatened to shoot if they did not return behind doors.
The man said, ?I just fed up with everything happening in Ottos. I didn?t even realise the man had already come into the house when I saw him outside. It?s later when we checked, we see he thief all me father US money and me sister money from she bag. He left me father pants and me sister bag by the pipe and go.?
Acting Police Public Relations Officer Corporal Frankie Thomas said, ?The police need information and in a timely manner because there is an armed man on the loose and surely he is looking to prey on some unfortunate person.?
The corporal also said, ?We want to reiterate that we, the police, cannot do it alone. We are begging the public?s co-operation so that we can all sleep in peace. We can walk in peace and people can do business without fear of being robbed. The more information we have, the better equipped we are to solving crimes.?
Corporal Thomas said the police are of the view persons have information but are afraid to come forward. He is assuring that ?information will be treated with strict confidence. We really need the persons to get on board and assist in solving crimes and restore Antigua to a tranquil community.?
He also issued a reminder to criminals, and also to those who aid and abet in crime: ?You who commit crime and you responsible for assisting others to commit crime, the eyes of the law are seeing you??
Persons who have any information that could assist in brining the perpetrator(s) of this or any other crime to justice are urged to visit or call the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the St John?s Police Station at 462-3913/14, Police Headquarters on American Road at 462-0125, Crime Stoppers at 800-TIPS (8477) or the nearest police station.
What the people inAntigu need to understand is that a thieves does’nt just break a house out of the blue they survey the area and plan the escape in the event that they are cornered. The police are always on patrol but if you don’t seem suspicious they wont question you wen seen. They don’t have a satelite dish that tells them wen an offence is going to be committed. Alot of information is out there but we as Antiguans are not concerned about the crime situation until it hits home. This needs an island effort.
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I cannot believe this is the Antigua I grew up in. We use to leave our doors open, leave our clothes on the line over night. Now people have to live shut up in their homes with burglar bars. Folks have their clothes stolen off their lines high day time. How can you break into someone’s home and invade their privacy? People need to start taking things into their own hands, since the police is not doing anything. We have to fight for our rights.
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the police in antigua are one big joke! Antigua is one tiny little place, with a crime rate out of this world, the police need proper training. All the criminals need to be hunted down and kill, also, the people need to come together and confront those damn thugs, criminals, and those want to be criminals; capital punishment should be re instated. The politicians in antigua are soft on crime.
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The criminals are laughing their heads off because it seems like the island is not ready to handle the hand they are being dealt right now. Could somebody please help. Criminals have some mercy on the Citizens of Antigua. I’m asking you because it seems like you are in charge.
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Its a shame that on a small island like Antigua crime is so high. In both incidents that i read both thieves got away with the victims money. What are the police doing. There is so many changes in the Administration and still no one is able to get it together.
If people are scared to come forward and i am sure someone is knowledge about these happenings, why aren’t rewards being offered, why aren’t cops patrolling the areas, why aren’t more lights being installed if not cameras. Its time for our police system to get a clean up and do things different.
At this day and age, people should be fingerprinted and this when suspects are picked up by the police , they check the data base. People should be fingerprinted and done background checks for employment in this way it will somewhat deter people and make them think twice.
What is the immigration department doing are people being fingerprinted upon arrival and at our ports. Our police department need vigarous training and complete new computer system. My imput.
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Big wes give me a break…. theres a gun weilding man around trying to escape what do you want us to do? run him down with sticks? if the police get a call like that why would they send one patrol out with two officers in it?? maybe they need to stop having so many officers working during the day and put them all to work at night… come onnnn the police need revamping… I’m getting tired of this .. soooner or later everyone is gonna run to go get a gun to protect them self then we’d be in hell on earth
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reading through the comments all I am hearing is the police dont do this or the police dont do that what our people must understand is that sometimes perpetrators do get away from the scene of the crime but what I want to ask the general public is are we giving the police all the help they need to get the job done? By assisting the police we will be able to sleep peacefully at night and our wives and daughters can walk the streets without fear.
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8 Ball is right, how can you respond to a break and enter without backup. They would be better off having some soldiers work out of the police stations. I guess the police are too dainty to run through people’s yard. Antigua police need more training, those black shoes should not be shiney by the end of your shift! Your job is to protect the public so, get out there and do your job. Officers should be patrolling the streets at night, what the hell are they doing…sleeping in the station. Come on, someone has got to change the mentality of those officers. Get the Canadian Sargent back, he has an excellent outlook on work ethics!
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it looks like we as a community have to take things in our own hands and watch out for each other cause as men we have a right to protect our family and if that means arming ourselves them so be it…its noway that theft suppose to get way the police should have set up a perimeter n hunt him down thats there job..
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We need to instill the “fear of police” into these perpetrators so that they will think twice about committing crimes.
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We need to instill the “fear of police” into these perpetrators so that they will think twice about committing crimes.
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What i do not understand the police always want information when they get it they go ant tell there friends or talk about it who want to be in that position antigua is a small place everybody knows everybody or some one who know that person.other thing you give informatiom some one in the force and that person is friend of family where does that go friend and police work do not go together.
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8 ball that is so true… the police need to come way better than that…. one the perpetrator(s) are in the area when they arrive they should not get away…..at times it is like is makes sence to call the police it is just a waste a time…. all they end up doing is taking reports and then nothing else ever happens….
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What I dont understand is, How can the police be right there and allow the perpetrators to escape right in from their eyes? Dont they have weapons? Buss shot inna the teif.. Mek them fraid police.. When you get called for break-ins, bring some high powered weapons as backup.. You cant mek teif have bigger gun than police else them not gonna stop this habit.
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