HOPEWELL Square in Hanover was the scene of a gruesome mob killing, Wednesday night, after angry residents chopped and beat an alleged thief to death.

The man, who has only been identified as “Bigga”, and who resided at Flankers in St James, was reportedly involved in the $200,000 robbery of Lee’s Value Plus Supermarket and Wholesale.

According to proprietor Karen Lee, the robbery took place shortly after 8:00 pm, just as they were closing for the night.

“Me just about to open the trunk and put the box with the money inside when it happen,” she told the Observer. “The man grab the money from the other Chinese girl, me grab it back from him and him push me down and grab it ‘way again. Him stronger than me.”

According to an eyewitness, just as Lee exited her business place, her attacker alighted from a car that then parked a few feet away down the road.

“After the two a them wrestle fi the money, the man run to the car,” the eyewitness said.

But a taxi operator who saw what had happened as he was passing used his car to block the getaway vehicle. The three men who were in the car ran.

By this time, a number of persons had converged on the scene, and Bigga was cornered.

“Citizens attacked him, chopped and beat him into a state of unconsciousness,” said investigating officer, Detective Constable C A Anderson. “An ambulance came on the scene but it broke down after he was put in it. He was later transferred to another vehicle that took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.”

One of the residents who had intervened received a machete wound to his left middle finger. He received 15 stitches at the hospital and released.

A 9mm Luger pistol, with 12 live rounds of ammo, was found in the grey Nissan Sunny used in the robbery. The car was seized Wednesday night, but the owner, who maintained that he had been hired to transport two men and had nothing to do with the robbery, turned up at the Lucea police station Thursday afternoon.

Up to press time, the police were still trying to determine if he was involved in the robbery.