Cops kill two bandits after $700,000 MoBay heist
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PETRE WILLIAMS, Observer staff reporter
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
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WESTERN BUREAU -- Police in Montego Bay yesterday shot dead two of six bandits and wounded a third during a running gunbattle in that city after they staged a daring mid-morning $700,000 heist at a downtown office.
A fourth man, suspected to be one of the thieves, is now in police custody and is to face an identification parade, Deputy Superintendent of Police Derrick Knight told the Observer.
The other two members of the gang apparently escaped with the money in a white Toyota Corolla motor car, police said.
According to Knight, the six robbers, all armed with guns, entered the Easy Access Administrative office on Barnett Street at about 10:00 am and ordered that cash from a lottery outlet there be handed to them.
On leaving the office, the men were challenged by a security guard, with whom they exchanged gunfire. However, none of the thieves were hit in that skirmish as two of them jumped into the getaway car parked outside the building, while the others used the cover of adjacent shrubbery to make their way to the Barnett River which they crossed on their way to West Green, a middle-income residential community.
By then, however, the police, who were called during the firefight with the security guard, tracked the robbers to the train line behind the Charles Gordon Market where they engaged them in a gunbattle that resulted in the two fatalities.
Last night, the Constabulary Communication Network said a .38 revolver was taken from one of the men.
According to Deputy Superintendent Knight, the injured man, who was shot in the chest and leg, was found about 20 minutes after the gunfight ended. He was taken to hospital and has been admitted under police guard.
Five minutes later, the fourth suspect was found hiding in bushes, dressed only in a pair of underpants. Police believe he threw away his clothes to avoid identification.
Yesterday, Knight said the police believe the six are the same group responsible for a spate of robberies in and around the tourist resort city over the last four weeks.
"...These men have featured in a number of robberies in the Montego Bay Area and the police were closing in on them," Knight said, adding that they were suspected of Saturday night's robbery of approximately $700,000 in cash, a laptop and jewellery valued at about $1.8 million from a Montego Bay businessman.
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