THE shooting of a man just outside Pearnel Charles Arcade on Church Street, downtown Kingston, last Tuesday morning has caused vendors who sell inside and on the outskirts of the arcade to be on the lookout for more surprise attacks.

In the midst of that, they are also still trying to attract customers and make sales.

The man who was shot was taken to hospital, where he is still being treated.

According to the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit, the incident occured minutes after 9:00 am.

Reports are that the man was standing outside the arcade when he was pounced upon and shot, sending people nearby scampering to safety.

Many of the vendors expressed that they were happy they had not yet arrived at the location when the shooting occurred.

One woman told the Jamaica Observer that she was glad she wasn’t around because she could not have bothered with the, “running up and down and trying to dodge bullets”.

One man secretly shared that the person who was shot is considered to be a hustler who frequents the area. The man said he did not know much about the injured man but claimed that some of the people who said they were not present at the scene of the shooting were actually there. According to him, they are just refusing to comment due to fear of possible repercussions if they share any information.

Fear was written all over the faces of some of the people who spoke to the Sunday Observer. However, they expressed that they were not going to allow the incident to stop them from going out and trying to earn. At the same time, they acknowledged that they need to be careful and vigilant when operating in the space.

“The man dem shoot is a hustler. We just deh yah a gwaan look out of our eyes. Everything is good otherwise,” one man told the Sunday Observer.

Another man tried to explain why many of the vendors were showing signs of fear, saying that, “People are going to be afraid from a man get shot.”

His colleague said people “are going to be scared and on the lookout but, at the same time, this is not the first something like that happen down here. It’s a regular thing”.