MANDEVILLE, Manchester — A business leader here is deeply concerned over the apparent glorification of men involved in last Friday’s brazen heist at Scotiabank in this bustling town, where five people were shot and injured.
Peter Campbell, managing director of Golf View Hotel, said it was not only a sad day for the south-central town, but also a decay of morals.
“… It is a further degradation of our moral standings, because you see people almost lauding this kind of behaviour,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday.
“It’s almost glorifying this kind of thing and it doesn’t sit well for the country. People on the international scene are looking on and they are now becoming even more reluctant to invest, to visit and to spend money in Jamaica and we all know the outcome of that kind of thing,” added Campbell.
The hotelier’s comments follow footage of the robbery, which went viral, on social media where some users appeared to be applauding the criminals.
“Team work mek di dream work,” said one user with the ok hand gesture on TikTok.
“Mi rate the dawg (shooter) inna the black. Dawg mek de wull place a duck,” said one user on Instagram.
At the same time there were users who expressed dismay at the responses.
“Wow. I’m amazed at the amount of people in the comments praising how the robbery was executed,” said a user on Instagram.
“Nothing bout dis nuh funny,” said another user.
On Saturday, the police said a suspect was apprehended after he was seen driving one of two vehicles that was used as getaway units.
Police said the suspect was travelling in a black Toyota Wish motorcar, which was intercepted about 1:30 am on Saturday on the Four Paths main road in Clarendon in the vicinity of Sunset Boulevard. Police said one 9mm magazine, one M16, two AK 47 rounds and a ski mask were reportedly recovered from the vehicle. It is understood that the vehicle, which bore mismatched registration plates, belongs to a man of a Portmore, St Catherine address.
Reports suggest that a former Beryllium security guard and two bank employees were being questioned in connection with the heist.
A woman who identified herself as Alice, told journalists outside the hospital on Friday night that her niece was shot in her leg while waiting in line at the Scotiabank ABM to withdraw cash on her payday.”I can’t find words to express right now. She was in the line to collect her pay with friends. They said the security guard said ‘clear the way’ and then they start hear gunshots,” said Alice.”These guys (gunmen) need to get some work. Trust me, they need to do better and stop make people have to go through all of these problems,” added the woman.
The Sunday Observer was told that sometime after 5:00 pm gunmen attacked a Beryllium security team at Scotiabank. Footage, which has gone viral, believed to be that of the shootout, shows two men armed with high powered weapons making their escape with a bag presumably containing cash.
Up to press time on Saturday, it was not ascertained as to how much money was stolen during the heist.
The shooting incident resulted in businesses being closed early on Friday, as police cordoned off the intersection of Caledonia Road and Ward Avenue to the intersection of Caledonia Road and South Race Course Road.
Campbell said the incident has far-reaching effects on the economy.
“It is a sad day for Mandeville, an unfortunate incident to say the least, but it also highlights the fact that a crime plan or a strategy is absolutely necessary, not just on paper, but to be implemented as soon as possible,” he said.
“In the absence or failure to implement serious crime fighting plans, we will continue to have incidents of this unfortunate nature. The ripple effect there is definitely a blow to our economy, he added.
He said Jamaicans need to take the situation seriously.
“We have to act swiftly, strategically and bearing in mind all the far reaching implications that this and other crimes, blatant act of the nature, can and will have on our economy and upcoming generations, because people are being terrified,” said Campbell
“On the heels of back-to-school we now have to be looking to counsel kids, because they are terrified of something of this nature that can happen in broad daylight in such a prominent area,” he added.
Other business leaders told the Sunday Observer that they were left outraged and shocked following Friday’s attack.
President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce Simone Spence-Johnson said the shooting incident, which unfolded in a busy section of the town, was frightening.
“I think it leads more to the overall crime problem that we have in our island and we really need to have all hands on deck. We really need to look at this seriously, because having five people just being caught in the crossfire of a blatant attack such as this is very frightening. You are not sure what can happen anytime you are on the road,” she said.
“We are really concerned and we are really outraged. We are crying out to all of the different stakeholders and the powers that be that we have to fix this problem. As a chamber we are totally against this and we really have to work seriously to solve this crime issue in our country,” she added.
She said the incident threatens to create “a ripple effect” on commerce.
“It puts a wrench in the assembly lines of how we operate as a business and you really don’t want something like this happening and… us as citizens and business owners we pay our staff probably through the banks and encourage them to use online transfers and debit cards at the point-of-sale as opposed to going to the ATM to draw cash,” said Spence-Johnson.
“It does affect commerce, because if you have people out there who can’t access their funds, you are going to have people not being able to buy what they need for their families and it is the height of the back-to-school season right now,” she added.
Lyden “Trevor” Heaven, chairman of FESCO, said the use of high-powered weapons during the incident raised alarms.
“We really wish and hope that those people who were injured by stray bullets will recover quickly and be back to normal… In and of itself [the incident] is very scary and to make it even worse is the time of day where it is the part of the peak season where there is a lot of activity. Friday evening of all days in a major square of the town, so it underscores the daring mindset of the people who will at all cost seek to undertake these kinds of robberies, so we have to be mindful of that,” he said.
Heaven, who operates Heaven’s Fesco service station opposite Scotiabank, said during the incident his staff rushed to safety.
“We were able to lock away all our staff when the shots started to fire, just in case there were any stray bullets coming across our side of the square, so the safety of our staff was first and foremost in our mind. We closed down the station and drew all the staff inside,” he said.
“In terms of the town itself, it is difficult for law enforcement to be everywhere at all times and to cover these things. We will do whatever we can to support law enforcement to ensure that we work very closely together with them,” added Heaven.
