Guard slain in credit union robbery

A HawkEye security guard died valiantly while responding to a robbery in progress at the Public Sector Employees Co-operative Credit Union at the Caribbean Estate housing development in Portmore on Tuesday.

An eyewitness said that four gunmen were involved in the robbery. One of them was shot by another HawkEye guard as they escaped.

“It all started when one man came in. He went to the cashier, another one came in right after him, and the one that was talking to the cashier came over and put his gun at a security guard’s neck and disarmed him,” an employee who requested anonymity told The Gleaner.

The duo then let in their cronies. Two of the robbers then leapt over the counter and demanded money.

After emptying cash from a container, the assailants sought for someone to open the safe. But according to the employee, the person who had the keys to the safe was not present.

“They started roughing us up saying we have money, then one turned and asked the guard, ‘Weh the money deh?’, and he told him that the security people took it from 12 o’clock,” the eyewitness said.

An armed response guard from HawkEye entered the credit union, but was accosted and taken into an office.

“The gunmen met him at the door and disarmed him and take him into the office, so when the next one came in they shot him right away at the entrance,” the eyewitness disclosed.

The employee, who was obviously shaken while relating his story, said that the HawkEye response officer who had been held at gunpoint in the office had another firearm. He opened fire, hitting one of the men.

All four robbers ran from the building firing wildly as they made their escape in a car that was parked nearby.

The car was later found along the Spanish Town Bypass.

The security guard, whose name was withheld up to press time, was pronounced dead at the Spanish Town Hospital.

Earlier this month, a Guardsman courier was shot dead in a foiled robbery outside a cambio in St Elizabeth.