ST JOHN’S, Antigua – A police hunt is on for nine criminals who are armed and dangerous and who, in groups of threes, committed two separate robberies and shot a Villa resident over the weekend.
Knives and guns are the perpetrators’ weapons of choice and police are urging residents to be on the alert, beware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity in their communities.
The most recent incident, the shooting of 20-year-old Isaac Henry of Villa, left him nursing two gunshot injuries to his thighs.
The Gordon Street resident was sitting among friends at a local bar on Athill Street at about 10:15 pm Sunday when three masked men drove up in a heavily tinted car, ran into the bar and opened fire.
Isaac, like his friends, tried to run for cover but he was struck in the right thigh and the bullet exited and went into the left thigh.
After the shooters fled in the car, Henry ran some distance before he collapsed in a neighbour’s yard.
Police reported the youth was taken to Mount St John’s Medical Centre where surgery was done.
No spent shells were recovered from the scene.
Turtle Bay home invasion
In the second most recent case, a family residing at Turtle Bay was attacked at home shortly after 3 am on Saturday.
The occupants were reportedly awakened by a noise inside the house and the glare of torchlights in their faces.
One of the criminals carried a gun while his accomplices were armed with knives.
The thieves threatened the lives of their victims and proceeded to rob them of two pairs of diamond and sapphire earrings valued at $10,000, and an undisclosed sum of money, along with the keys to their Land Rover SUV in which the thieves eventually escaped.
Before making their escape, the robbers locked the family inside a room.
The vehicle was later recovered at Falmouth Cricket Grounds.
The heights of the three culprits in this incident ranged from five feet six inches to six feet tall.
The shortest thief wore a cream jacket and a black half-cut jeans, while the two six-footers were dressed in dark clothing.
Willoughby Bay robbery
On Friday, at about 10:30 pm, a lone knife-wielding robber pounced on a female resident just as she returned to her Willoughby Bay home and was exiting her vehicle.
The masked man demanded cash and then took the woman into her home where his two accomplices, who were armed with a gun and a knife, were waiting.
The trio relieved their victim of an Ipad valued at £600, one computer valued at US $2,000, six bottles of wine, a Nokia cellular phone, and an undisclosed amount of money.
The thieves then bound and gagged the woman and fled in her black and silver Toyota Corolla station wagon A21076. Police have already recovered the vehicle, which was abandoned in the Red Hill area.
Head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Superintendent Nuffield Burnette said many residents still “do not get it” as it relates to being each other’s keeper.
He suggests people need to be “more neighbourly and vigilant.”
He urged residents to contact the nearest police station to report crimes, Crime Stoppers at 800-TIPS (8477), or CID at 462-3913/14.
(More in today’s Daily OBSERVER)
It is time for some death wish vigilante style justice.
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The government must declare war on those damn criminals. This is laughable. After reading this article, i came to one conclusion, an all out war must be declare on criminals.
Most of antigua revenue comes from tourism, so the government can ill afford to let antigua reputation be tarnish. My advise to the corrupt and inept authorities? liquidate those criminals and thugs at once.
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Cort and all the other inept leaders are responsible for the spiraling crime. What is needed is severe punishment; for such a small place crime should be kept at a minimum. The crime situation in antigua is way out of line.
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I wonder what would have happen if the Men at the Bar were armed, and was able to protect themselves.
Give the people a choice.
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