A construction worker was shot and killed at a bar in Top Hill, St Elizabeth this morning.

He has been identified as 52-year-old Lloyd Cole, otherwise called ‘Rice Man’ of a Top Hill address.

According to police reports, Cole was sitting on a bar stool outside the bar about 1:45 am when armed robbers approached the establishment. Cole was gunned down and then the robbers proceeded inside where they robbed several persons and used an object to open the poker box and escaped with an undetermined sum of money.

The police later arrived and transported Cole to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The owner of the bar said he was upset about the murder of Cole.

“He is one of the humblest customers ever, him no put up with certain things, he is a man no uphold with certain things, so dem just kill him just like that… more people ah go dead too,” the despondent bar owner said.

He said that the business owners in the area were being abandoned by law enforcement and are unable to defend themselves because of an inability to obtain gun licences.

“If yuh look bout licenced gun, yuh caan get it, corruption ripe, it costs yuh millions. And yuh caan survive because of criminal elements, the police know dem caan stop the crime. The police dem know what a gwaan and dem caan do nothing about it, there’s nothing people can do, the same criminals dem go Mouse bar at Sea View and rob the bar with the same style, every night, dem rob a different place,” he said.

The criminals who have masterminded the recent robberies, used a crowbar to gain access to the money acceptor device on the machines and then take the money, leaving the boxes.

Police say gaming equipment popularly referred to as poker boxes are also a growing target for criminals desperate to earn in Jamaica’s tightening economic environment.

READ: St Elizabeth police chief reassures citizens amid robberies

Modern gaming boxes, including those with touch screen technology are worth as much as $500,000 each and are in demand, while older versions can be sold for up to $300,000.

OBSERVER ONLINE reported earlier this week that there have been a spate of robberies along the south coast of St Elizabeth.

The robbers have been pillaging operators and patrons in traditionally low-crime areas such as Southfield, Flagaman, Bull Savannah, Alligator Pond, Lane, Downs, New Forest, Sea Air, Bellevue and even Malvern, atop the Santa Cruz Mountains.

READ: Bar operators in St Elizabeth irate over increase in robberies

“The other day dem rob a bar and get $2,500, and dem have the audacity to ask if we have anymore? Dem barefaced bad. The other day, a bar was in the middle of a shootout between cops and robbers and the robbers dem come back on July 6th and rob that same bar of $600,000. The criminals dem no care, by 7, everybody have to come offa the road, the bartender dem fraid, couple of them get rape and don’t even report it, the whole ah the south tense and miserable right now,” one bartender who works at a bar in Myersville, told Observer Online.

“Is like a daily event, dem come pick up money, and liquor and sometimes dem all go a different bar inna different district go floss. Help, we need help.”