MoBay Chamber calls for vigilance as robbers target businesses
Published:Thursday | April 20, 2023 | 1:08 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
While not seeking to negate the police’s crime-fighting role, Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Oral Heaven is urging the city’s business community to be more vigilant in seeking to protect themselves and their operations from armed robbers.
Heaven’s advice comes in the wake of a foiled robbery at a supermarket in downtown Montego Bay on Tuesday night after an armed robber was shot and injured by an off-duty soldier.
“I am seeing the police in Montego Bay now. The police are very visible, very active,” said Heaven. “However, as businesspeople, we have to be more vigilant, more careful, and aware of our surroundings. We have to protect ourselves. We cannot sit and depend on the police force to do everything.”
Heaven said members of the business community have to be cognisant of the fact that the police cannot be everywhere at once.
“Policing is not easy, and having had dialogue with them, I realise that they are doing their best with what they have, especially here in St James. They are very connected to the community, and they are doing their best with the little resources they have. So the reality is we, as business operators, have to realise that everyone is our responsibility. We have to protect you, and you have to protect me,” said the MoBay Chamber boss.
About 8:40 p.m. on Tuesday, a man, who was armed with a handgun, walked into the Tigers Supermarket along St James Street in downtown Montego Bay. He held the Chinese operators at gunpoint and demanded money.
The soldier, who was in the vicinity of the supermarket, saw what was happening and challenged the gunman, who began firing shots as he tried to make his escape.
The gunman was shot and injured. A bystander was struck by a bullet.
A police unit, which responded to the shooting, managed to corner and subdue the injured gunman and seized an illegal firearm from him.
Both the injured gunman and the bystander were transported to hospital. The crook was admitted under police guard and the victim treated and released.
One of the police officers who responded to the shooting told The Gleaner that there was another robbery in the Montego Bay area last week. A homeowner was reportedly trailed from a bank to the Island Revenue Department building in Montego Bay, where thieves robbed him of some $500,000, which he had left in his car.