Police investigations continue into a home invasion in Runaway Bay that left two men shot and wounded and a community fearful and angry.
The two men lived in separate houses on the same premises on Main Street Runaway Bay, about 400 meters from the police station, Wednesday morning about 3:30.
No update was available up to Monday evening from the police who did not issue an official report into the incident.
Reports are that as many as five armed men entered the yard and went to the house at the back of the premises, where they called out, claiming to be police and telling the occupant to open the door. They fired shots and then kicked down the door after their demands were not met. They later removed the man from his house, gunbutted and then shot him. It is believed they took nearly $50,000 from him.
The thieves then went to the main house, occupied by businessman Anton King. They took one of his workers hostage and while they called out that they were police they held her at gunpoint. Mr King who was inside was opening the door when he realized that something was amiss. He immediately tried to close it but the gunmen also applied force to the door to push it open. Members of his family, who were now alerted to what was happening also tried to defend the house. The gunmen then fired several gunshots into the door, two of which hit Mr Kings, one in his upper arm and the other in his leg.
With Mr King wounded, the men were able to enter the house and demanded money of him.
When they left he was able to drive to nearby premises to family members who took him to St Ann’s Bay Hospital where he was admitted. Both men have been released from hospital.
“Mi nuh know what a happen to Runaway Bay,” said one man, who had stopped at the family home Wednesday morning, after news of the shooting spread.
Another man in the private security industry, who declined to give his name, said he heard the shots from his home in Cardiff Hall and he was frightened by the whole situation. “Too much crime in St Ann now. Runaway Bay is becoming a hot spot,” he said.
“I don’t know but crime a go mash up tourism. We going poor like Haiti,” a woman who condemned the shooting and sat with family members on a verandah as a helper washed away blood from the early morning incident. “A nicer man than Anton you can’t find.”
