Police charge two men in connection with supermarket robbery in Maggotty last month

The St Elizabeth police have arrested and charged two people following investigations into the robbery of a supermarket in Maggotty last month that resulted in the death of a resident. 

Speaking at Thursday's monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, Superintendent Coleridge Minto stated that the men were on Thursday morning charged with the offences of murder, conspiracy, robbery with aggravation, using a firearm to commit a felony, possession of a prohibited weapon, and unauthorised possession of ammunition.  

They have been identified as 30-year-old, Ramanno Smile, otherwise known as 'Smile' or 'Little Smile,' an electrician, and 35-year-old Shawn Reid, otherwise known as 'Sogie', both from Knockpatrick, Manchester. 

Superintendent Minto further revealed that there are two other suspects that the police are pursuing. 

“At an appropriate time, I will name them as persons of interest for the public,” he said.   

The police allege that on October 19 the men entered the supermarket in Maggotty and posed as customers.

One of the men brandished a handgun, and the other stood at the door as the lookout.

The man with the gun allegedly jumped over the counter and robbed the owner of an undetermined amount of phone cards, cigarettes and money.

During the robbery, 62-year-old Aggrey Atkinson, a businessman of Russell Hill district, St Elizabeth, was shot and killed.

The men escaped in a waiting motor car.

- Asha Wilks

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