Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth — St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) is the latest to suffer from a wave of gun crimes affecting Santa Cruz and its environs.

Gunmen Thursday night invaded the school campus and robbed student footballers of cell phones.

Principal Keith Wellington told the Observer that at about 8:20 two men walked into the dormitory occupied by members of the STETHS football team and took cell phones at gunpoint before escaping.

Wellington said that the teenagers, who are in line to win an unprecedented third straight Ben Francis Cup knockout title for their school — having reached the final of that competition — as well as a fourth daCosta Cup title, had recovered well from the incident.

"They trained well this morning," he said, adding that the school would have to consider additional security measures including armed security, which he described as "not good".

Wellington said the police had responded well to the situation and "were doing what they can".

The incursion by gunmen at STETHS comes in the wake of an alarming spike in gun crimes in the Santa Cruz environs and the wider St Elizabeth in recent months.

On Wednesday night an all-night hot dog stand owned by deportee-turned-entrepreneur Guyard Silvera, who was featured by the Observer Central in July, was held up and robbed by armed men. The robbers took $9,000 in cash and $7,000 in phone cards from the hot dog stand.