Trapped robbers shoot way out of store
(CNS): Updated – Three, masked armed gun men shot their way out of a money transfer office on Thursday evening after onlookers tried to foil an armed robbery, police have confirmed . At around 7:30pm on Thursday, 3 February, robbers targeted the Moneygram office at the Meringue Town minimart on Boilers Road in George Town. The robbers reportedly entered the premises (which has been targeted by robbers in the past) with at least one firearm and demanded cash from staff. In the process of the robbery people outside the store reportedly locked the hurricane shutters in an effort to contain the suspects. However, the robbers then shot out the doors in order to make their escape. A police spokesperson said no one was injured but it is not known if the suspects got any cash. (Photos by Dennie Warren Jr)
Police immediately set up road blocks in the wake of the incident which is the seventh armed robbery of 2011 less than five weeks into the year.
All three men were wearing dark clothing and masks and anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident who has information which could assist the investigation should call George Town CID on 949-4222 or the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477 (TIPS).
Category: Headline News
Last thing we need is inept police, who by the commissioners own admission can’t read or write properly with guns.
When I write with a gun, I find I can barely get my first initial out before I have to reload.
" Last thing we need is inept police, who by the commissioners own admission can’t read or write properly with guns."
Great argument, NOT! Think the criminals have a college degree? No, but they can put a few bullets through ya.
I Agree totally, what’s needed is a highly profesional well trained well educated and well armed police force, that are ready to do what it takes to confront and stop these criminals.
My very point 16:19 and i am speaking as a person who was in that situation on more than one occassion. Do you while armed with a baton and handcuffs, rush to a scene within a minute of the radio call when armed gunmen are there? I dont think so. Karate or judo or kung fu are not effective weapons against flying hot bullets. Thats what the first responders hasve in their minds.
This is just the beginning, without the feeling of protection from the Law people will start to take the law into their own hands. Pretty soon the RCIPS will have a band of Vigilantes on their hands.
Re: “without the feeling of protection from the Law”
The “feeling of protection from the law” is inadequate, because people need more than a feeling; they need to actually be protected from criminals. It is not possible for the RCIPS to prevent or stop certain types of criminal attacks, and there should be a law requiring ‘Truth in Advertising’ against saying such, because it is a false sense of security.
Re: “people will start to take the law into their own hands.”
I do not support vigilantism, but what is your definition of vigilantism?
As far as I understand Vigilantism is when folks go out looking for Criminals before the commit crimes and kind of trick them into committing crimes so they can take them out. Nothing at all like Self Defense or protecting your own property. I don’t agree with Vigilantism, but I do understand how folks can get pushed to the point of doing this as a way to retaliate. I do however believe in the right to protect your own. If someone comes into my home to Rob me or rape my wife or daughter , I believe I have a moral right to protect my family and property with deadly force if necessary, after all they are using deadly force against my family. But I don’t think I should go out looking for trouble.
Poor choice of headline. Sensationalism at its best.
It is about time we arm our police force. The statements made by the commssioner a while back pertaining to the fact that armed police will result in more criminals being armed was ridiculous. These crimes are ALL being committed by armed robbers, whether it be robbing a corner shop or robbing a bank. The police as mentioned before have managed to catch the culprits of one of these robberies and that was only due to the fact that they happened to be driving past the scene of the crime at the right moment! Even had this been the case yesterday what would they have done? Is the commissioner really naive enough to believe that just the presence of a uniform is enough to make these criminals put down their guns and give up? Its time to get with the times..countries dont go to war without a gun in fear that their enemies may arms themselves more do they? Thats exactly what this is….a war….and as mentioned before if you dont start taking these guys down (by deadly force if necessary) then the public will be taking it into thier own hands and you will see innocent people receiving sentences for protecting their families and possessions..(which they have every given right to do so) Sort yourselves out commissioner or go home!
Once again the use of arms in a crime within Cayman has a comment which supports the extension of arms as a solution. In every crime that I have seen reported the police were not on scene to apprehend the criminals, hence whether they were armed or otherwise made no difference to the outcome. Following yet another shooting masacre in the states the calls for all persons to be armed have faided, but still the perception persists that widespread ownership of arms by citizens or police will solve these crimes. If the police are not onsite due to reaction times to very quicklyexecuted crimes whether they carry arms or not is irrelevent. The ability of police to respond in a timely manner, follow up on leads, and the support of the general public through the provision of reliable and significant information are the things that should be discussed. Focussing on arming people without addressing these issues is a red herring that provides a simple yet doomed to failure knee jerk reaction. Unless these crimes are reviewed with analysis to ascertain why the criminals are not being brought to justice based on the factors of the cases progress will not be possible. People who propose singular solutions to complex problems have their own agenda in my opinion and the such changes will have no effect on the incidence of crime. Criminals are disuaded by being caught and prosecuted, not by persons who will not be in attendance being armed.
Sounds like you have been drinking the commissioner’s kool-aid. Ever think the police, if they are armed may respond quicker if they know they can defend themselves rather than becoming targets.
As for shootings in the us, many more are stopped by armed citizens and officers than actually escape. Just a couple months ago an armed security gaurd saved the lives of an entire school board from an armed criminal.
PLEASE STOP DRINKING THE KOOL-AID
Ideology and actuality are not always going to gel
Let these morons talk about the USA all they want; the most they know about the USA is from shopping trips to Miami where as ‘tourists’ they are visinting the safest country in the world but gladly take that privilege for granted when they are back in the Cayman Islands and will support any crap that Baines is spouting out of his trap.
The head of that school board praised that armed security officer with the confirmation that had it not been for his intervention and engagement with this gunman, members of that school board would certainly have died.
Security guard came into the room and lick two shot pon de bwoy and saved lives…
Some of this bulls****t against arming the police and citizens in the face of whats happening in Cayman now just makes me want to puke.
More guns will just mean more gun crime. It will mean more domestic violence deaths too.
So you can talk like a Jamaican all you want, but look at Jamaica and ask if that is what you want, because that is what you will get.
This is British territory here. So no guns thank you.
For a moment there I thought you said tha the U.S. was the safest country in the world.
Anon, 00.16, I hope that cooler heads, like yours, prevail. It seems pretty obvious to me that were the Police and citizens armed, then the criminals would be far more likely to use them in a tight spot, not just at a ceiling or a door lock, but with another armed human as a target. It would initiate an arms race, and in spite of the frustration and anger we all feel, more people would wind up dead. Criminals would graduate to Uzi’s and machine pistols just to keep ahead, not what Cayman needs. Give the Police time, and they will prevail. There is a lot going on, including a significant recruitment drive for officers with particular skill sets. Slagging off the leadership of the RICPS is getting old, and just shows that prejudice and ignorance often rule these blogs.
Criminals are criminals no matter which country or region they are from.Criminals from the caribbean are no different than those in Europe or Norht America, South America, Mexico or Asia. If you do not want to be in the Caribbean pack up and leave.q
Is anyone else noticing that they are doing a crime spree?? Shootings, robberies, missing people, etc. They seem to be riddling the island with crime so they will never get solved. They should be trying to find Anna butinstead they have to worry about shootings, and what is being sold in second hand shops. The police do not know what direction to go anymore. While it is not a good idea to try to stop robbers, I believe I would have done the same thing because of being so fed up with all of the crime. This is such a sad story! The beautiful, peaceful little Island of Cayman is going down the tubes, to GANGS!! To people who don’t care about others, who are greedy, who have no feelings, etc. The worst part is that they are probably going to church on Sunday!! Peace to the working class, polite, considerate Cayman people!
There was some merit in your post but the suggestion that the gangsters who have who are engaging in armed robbery who don’t care about others, who are greedy, who have no feelings, etc. are PROBABLY going to church on Sunday is a little ridiculous. What possible basis do you have for making that statement? Apparently in your mind churchgoers represent the worst criminal elements.
I think they do represent the worse criminal elements when they are using a Church to try to cover up for their bad behavior. When they are known to be drug dealers, thieves, rapists, domestic violence offenders, etc and go to Church on Sunday people see them in a different light than what they actually are. Others will think they are good upstanding people because they go to Church…little do they know they are going out to gang bang that night. When majority of the criminals get caught, mom,dad(if they have one),uncle, aunt, or cousin will say "he be a good boy, he go to church every sunday!" It is heard over and over again. There are PLENTY of people who go to Church faithfully and don’t live by what they are learning. Infidelity, domestic violence, nasty drunkeness, child abuse, sexual abuse, etc. The Church is used as a deterrant to their actual doings!! i did not say ALL church goers so please don’t try to say I did….that is not what I said.
Funny how most robberies seem to occur more on Thursdays, eh? My guess is either the little lady need to get her “hair did, nails did, everything did did” for Friday so her “man” betta had find sum dollas! Or it could be dem just need cash to spend at the bars to impress the ladies!!!
GO GET REAL JOBS……LAZY PUNKS!!!
Eats, shoots and leaves.
Eats shoots and leaves.
The first sentence descibes a cowboy who appears to be somewhat disgruntled with his meal, the second sentence describes a Koala bear.
Great headline.
We should be applauding those that individuals that had the balls to do what they did.
I seem to recall the Butterfield robbery where police were called by a witness but never showed up till the robbers were long gone.
Recently police officers on patrol discovered armed robbers leaving the scene and gave chase only to be called off by central.
I say well done to those individuals if we had more like minded citizens their would be more theives in Northward where they belong rather than being left on the street to rob again and again.
Would you have the same opinion about the wisdom and rightness of this stupid and dangerous action by bystanders outside this business if these robbers had turned their guns on the innocent employees and customers inside the store and opened fire on them, instead of shooting their way out of the store ?
This is a selfish, irresponsible comment praising an even more selfish, stupid and irresponsible action by people who were not at threat directly.
Has anyone not ever told you that you do not argue with someone with a loaded gun pointed at you unless you have one of your own pointed back at them ?
Police have no guns? How ridiculous. Might as well hire mall or cross walk guards.
No wonder the subculture is walking all over you. Better get with the program.
the police is not taking the right rout to catch these criminals they are all driving down the main street to the scene of the crime giving the culprits time and space to escape they need to take the off roads close by to see who is acting strange and running when they see them and who is driving foolish maybe they can get lucky again and catch somebody . the only time the police catch somebody after a robbery was when they did it in bodden town and the police saw them driving while they were coming to the scene
These by-standers were reckless in my opinion as they could have caused a much worse situation by trapping these robbers and backing them into a corner causing a hostage situation, somebody could have got hurt when these shots were fired etc.
At least somebody took a stand. It’s more than we can say about our cops.
The stupid person making that statement praising these morons who locked and trapped these armed gunmen in this store is asking for innocent people to be shot and killed outright…
But then again, they were not in store having loaded guns pointed directly at them, were they ?
These people who did this should be charged by the police for reckless endangerment of the public and probably will be.
This does not directly address how completely and utterly useless Cayman’s police force is in dealing with this most urgent of threats to the public’s safety.
Armed robbery is high on the list of most nations risk assessments to its national security and public safety and every measure, including confronting and eliminating armed gunmen, is taken to eliminate or minimise this threat….
Except in the Cayman Islands, that is.
Have any of these places thought about havving guard dogs? My uncle ran bars in England and i know of ppl that owned jewelry store also. They always has guard dogs behind their counters and people never messed with these premises. You would be surprised how many ppl sh*t themselves at the sight of a trained rotweiller….Just an idea…
The rottweiler would be shot, the money would be collected and the outcome the same as last night.
11{06 I am laughimng my head off after reading your comments. I know I sould not laugh, but what you say is so true. I am wondering what can be done.
Firstly, crime is a business and the cost of doing the business of crime in the Cayman Islands is too inexpensive. Put another way, the public needs to play their part in repelling criminals by force, including deadly force.
Secondly, to date, the Commissioner of Police has been failing to properly inform the public that private citizens can legally protect themselves, their families, and property by means of lawfully owned firearms… Put another way, his failure to do so is a part of the problem.
Thirdly, the police cannot be everywhere to protect people against such attacks, so your defense will depend upon your commitment to defend yourself… Put another way, the Commissioner could be straight up with the public, if he wants to.
The Commissioner should repent or resign!
Are the thumb-downers dog lovers who live in a fantasy world?
WOW !!!!! How brave of them – but not exactly the best thing to do as someone could have got injured or killed and thank God no one did. Good job citizens – but please be careful.
I agree that civillians in this case could have made the situation much worse by trying to intervenve, however this is also indicative of just how fed up people are with these robberies. People work hard and sacrifice every day to provide a living for themselves and their families and for someone to feel they are entitled to come in, use force and take what you have worked for away is disgusting and is certainly enough to enrage anyone.
Do you realize that things have gotten so bad that I actually skip to the end of these articles to see if perhaps this time the robbers got caught or blown away? Society has had enough, and people are growing numb and desensitized to criminals and are clearly ready to take steps to protect themselves because the police are not succeeding in protecting us.
There is no deterrent from this type of criminal activity, no consequence, nothing. You would be surprised how many people in Cayman I have overheard saying that if someone intruded in their home they would gladly spend the rest of their days in Northward or Fairbanks for what they would do to that person. People are fed up and if the police don’t get things under wraps I can guarantee we will start to see acts of vigilanteeism in Cayman.
I absolutely do not support any act of vigilantism! However, I do support our existing right to use force, including deadly force in acts of self-defense; or defense of property; or the defense of another persons against criminal attack, including by means of private and lawfully owned firearms.
The police cannot be everywhere to prevent robberies, rape/murders… so I don’t blame the RCIPS is cases like this, it’s unfair to the police, but residents can be everywhere and they can take the initiative to protect themselves… And lastly, the residents who want to should.
Did they call the police before locking them in ? It seems to me that some time was wasted here, the police station is not that far away, in the time it took to lock them in and then for them to shoot out the doors, I would have thought the Police would be there by then, guns drawn ready to thug it out with the robbers?
I viewed the robbery portion of the video and to do as you have suggested, armed officers would have needed to be very near the property, with prior approval from Gold Command to engage, because the duration of the robbery was very short, including the act of shooting their way out of the glass door and hurricane shutter. The shutter was closed by someone outside of the store in which the robbery occurred and NOT by anyone inside.
If you look at the time the robbery was going on you will find that it occurred at the time of shift change, thus officers getting de-briefed and officers getting briefed at the same time, hence the delay……
Yet another completely misleading headline………..
CNS, I agree with 22.29 completely. This headline does not match the story in any way. A “shoot out” is known worldwide as an exchange of gunfire between two parties–clearly not the situation nor the story here. No matter how clever one thinks the headline was.
With the greatest respect, You will know that your newsblog is carried worldwide and is picked up by Google search for news on the Cayman Islands. We also know that most people will read an online headline and that is all. I would therefore have to identify this headline as destructive and not in the best interest of the Cayman Islands.
I am asking that in the future some care is taken in phrasing your headlines to more appropriately match the content of your blog given the potential inaccurate and global impact to the country.
Thanks in advance.
This headline is absolutely deceptive. when i first saw it, immediately i thought that the police and robbers were engaged in a shoot out.
This is exactly the stupidity that the Police preaching, mostly Baines, is driving people to risk thier lives foolishy. Help the Police, help the Police – this was a dumb act that was no doubt caused by the Police constantly telling the public to stand up and be counted as they are being let down. While I do admit that the RCIP has never told anyone to do something as foolish as what was done tonight, it would stand that a learned man like Baines would choose his words carefully (withsuch a populance of what we have here), instead of making vague statements that will take a person of lesser intelligence to do something like what was done tonight. I would like to know though once again how no one ever chased by the RCIP for this crime. Small area, close enough to the Police Station, Police should be patrolling this area ARMED. Once again another let down by the RCIP. Maybe there is some CCTV that can ID an witness for the Police to track down in order to push them to stand up once again,
Well, now you have branded us all stupid and of lesser intelligence, I suggest you go home, close your door and never come out again, because you obviously do not want to be a part of Cayman and our society. Everyone knows that the Commissioner has never suggested we should tackle armed robbers – that was a decision made on the spur of the moment by passers by. I’m not sure if it was a good or bad idea – we could have ended up with a hostage situation or worse. BUT I do applaud the notion of a community spirit, that people are prepared to stand up for what they believe in – previously people would not say in court what everyone knew they had witnessed, now people are prepared to stand up and defend our beautiful islands. That is an encouraging sign.
Bang Bang Bang once aagin. !!!
What/Where is the expert and pro-active UK leadership of the RCIPS doing…… to prevent and detect these Robberies that are happening in our community left, right and centre ??
We all knew sooner or later this was coming. They are becoming bolder and bolder because they know that our police are unarmed. I wonder when the Police High Command is going to stop treating these hoodlums like saints?. This justify the call for arming the Police on patrol and to l limited extent, proprietors should be given licences for keeping and carrying firearms at their busines places after being satisfied that they can safely do so.
These are Caribbean people and they have to be dealt with different from criminals in a typical European cities. They are more ruthless. Lets hope we dont hear a news report one of these days that they are in a shoot out with the police.
Re: "proprietors should be given licences for keeping and carrying firearms at their busines places"
No, it’s up to the individual to apply. The current firearms law already allows for that.
I think this headline is *WAY* sensational….seriously dude.
Shootout: A gun battle between armed groups. I have serious doubt the doors were armed! 😉
I think this was a foolish act – someone could have been killed and to me, it just made the robbers more relentless and determine to now use the guns on people. How I see it, if you got a plan, make sure it comes to fruition. Don’t do careless acts that could cause innocent people their lives.
22:02 I certainly agree with you, If you got a plan please make sure it is a good one. Although I applaud the people inside for trying. I am sure they were only trying to detain the robbers until policecould get there.
But, I certainly see businesses on the Island not doing enough to quickly alarm the police and public when a robbery in in place. Why dont management provide/install secret alarms system in their businesses that is heard outside like a loud sirene, or identified at the police station.?. Residents are speculating in the community that Business persons dont really care. Why? Double an eight letter word called “Insurance”
I agree but at least this time people tried to stop them. I guess some people are getting fed up with all this.
Pity the bullets couldn’t ricochet and take the bad guys out one lick! Cha!
Una dont eff wid dem idiots down dere, dey serious ya nah!
What the heck are you saying ?
Im saying stop trying to lock criminals like them in, they are serious theyll kill you all in a heart beat, they have no sense so i dont understand why i got 46 thumbs down for telling you all to watch them fools down there.
Most likely because noone knew what you were trying to say…Not many people understand what una dim dere and dat mean…
But you are right they are savages and probably would kill someone if they got in their way, which is why the cops stay out of their way..
Thanks bro!
In other words, he is saying – “You better don’t f%ck with them idiots down there, they are serious, you know!”