Zona Viva employees Kenneth Pinder, Shamar Burrows and store manager Charles Fox.
By DANA SMITH
Tribune Staff Reporter
dsmith@tribunemedia.net
A SHOTGUN was fired in a clothing store at the Town Centre Mall as a store employee wrestled the weapon out of the hands of a suspected thief who had attempted to rob the store at gunpoint.
The would-be thief, who told employees she was 13-years-old, ran from Zona Viva clothing store after she was disarmed before she was tackled to the ground by employees.
Salesman Kenneth Pinder, 38, said as he grabbed the gun from the teen's hand, the shotgun went off - but no one was hurt.
He said the girl had gathered up items and taken them to the store register where she then pulled out the shotgun and reportedly aimed it at employees.
"The customer pulled out the shotgun and aimed it at my boss who was behind the register," Mr Pinder said.
"The same time I noticed it, I was off at a distance and I ran at the customer and snatched the shotgun and the customer. The gun went off and the customer ran out the store and I ran after her and I caught her."
Mr Pinder said the thief came into the store "as a regular customer."
"(She) asked for some items and tried on some things - like the shoes, the sizes that she need," he said. "After gathering the clothes and the shoes she was interested in, we had them all in the bag and when it was time for her to pay the total, she yuck out a shotgun… She pulled out the shotgun and pointed it at our boss."
After wrestling the shotgun out of her hand and subduing her outside the store after a brief chase, he said he and other employees who had come to help, took the suspect to the mall's security desk and police were called.
Store manager, Charles Fox, 20, who aided Mr Pinder in the suspect's capture said she told him she was only 13-years-old.
Mr Fox added another young man was also subsequently taken into police custody as a suspected accomplice, after a review of the security footage showed the duo might have been working with each other.
He was taken into custody after returning to the scene where employees pointed him out to police, Mr Fox said, although the man had changed his shirt.
"It was a young man, he came in," he said. "They didn't come in at the same time - she came in first, but they were probably in sync with what they were doing at the time, because we noticed after watching the footage that they were giving each other, like eye contact and stuff - whether or not to move or whether or not to do stuff.
"We were so busy serving, we didn't pick up on all of that. And then at the time when the shot fired, he ran out the store and he was wearing a red shirt, at the time. And when the police were here, he came back in the mall and he was wearing a white shirt, at the time. So they apprehended him."
An eye-witness, who asked to remain anonymous, contacted the Tribune to say she was a passing shopper in the Blue Hill Road mall when she saw commotion.
She said she heard a “loud boom like a gun went off” and saw employees seeming to wrestle a woman to the ground, before police were called.
“Another employee came from the back and grabbed her from behind by her neck and wrestled the shotgun from her," the witness said. At that point the gun was fired, she added.
“I was too shocked," the witness said. "I couldn’t believe that could have happened in this mall. Everyone was shocked, trembling, trying to dive, can’t believe it. All the workers and stuff, can’t believe it.
“Right now I have a headache. You know you think you’re safe and you’re not.”
Police have yet to give an official statement on the report.
Comments
JohnDoes 11 years, 3 months ago
Sound's like these women are losing their pride. Time to think about expansion of the Female prison, its filling up like the all male Fox Hill. This country and its economic state are driving persons toward some serious desperate acts.
SP 11 years, 3 months ago
Perhaps if the PLP stop fumbling around trying to protect B.E.C. & actually follow the advise of the IDB and examples of other countries by implementing solar net metering which has the potential of getting EVERYONES POWER BACK ON FOR PEANUTS and creating 6,000 sustainable new jobs, and get off their ass's with vetting the many project proposals with even more job potential for these hungry young people, the crime epidemic will take a downward turn.
This along with getting rid of the 10's of thousands of unnecessary foreign blue collar workers has the potential of putting untold thousands of Bahamian's back to work.
If you think these unemployed people are going to sit home and watch their children and family starve to death in darkness, it's obviously time for you to pull your head out of your ass and take a look around.
I'm not for one moment condoning crime, however, I'm also not diehard PLP or FNM stupid enough to pretend the reason for the spike in crime isn't related to high unemployment.
All this bullshit about crime being caused by the breakdown of the family and absentee fathers is stupidness for jackass's to swallow and a scapegoat for successive governments' failure to diversify the economy and create employment opportunities for a growing population base.
superUser 11 years, 3 months ago
I agree with some of that, but with the type of parents many kids have today, they are not taught right from wrong, they are not being educated at home about how to act properly in a civilized society. Many grow up thinking what is yours is mine, that wrong is right, or in some cases, that if you go to church then that makes everything you did wrong outside of church, right. Its nothing to do with a single parent family, it's just that if they had at least one parent with half a brain then it would help.
242 11 years, 3 months ago
The young lady was robbing a clothes store though not a food store. I don;t see how the starving in the dark part come in.
TalRussell 11 years, 3 months ago
Comrades if the reported age is accurate, is no one concerned of the sadness steering us all back, that this is but a 13 year old Bahamalander "armed" child robber? What manner of children are we as a nation raising? The age of this "child" presents a much bigger, scarey picture for all of us to start paying attention to. Lock them up you say. So, how many "child" cells will taxpayers build, or do you just plan on sending them all up to Fox Hill Prison, to bunk in cells with adults? For the grace of God there goes one of our own children, grandchildren or family member. And, please don't think your own is above committing criminal acts. Do not simply view this girl as but some crime statistic but as a little child. This is someone's flesh and blood.
henny 11 years, 3 months ago
Whomever the man was that was with her most likely put her up to it. She at 13 yrs needs a reality check soon.
digimagination 11 years, 3 months ago
Retarded country - now supposedly 40 years old and a whole slew still behaving like wild teenagers. Parents - let me in most cases adjust that to 'parent' - should be held accountable for the misbehaviour of minors. Kids cannot conjugate a verb but find it easier to wield a firearm... sad and pathetic!
John 11 years, 3 months ago
If she is really 13 and underage this is a trend hat is becoming popular in many metro-US cities. They send the kids to do crime whilst the adults stand near in the background. If the (teens) are caught they go to reform school or get community service, basically a slap of the wrist for committing a serious crime
superUser 11 years, 3 months ago
Store manager at aged 20 - at least some of today's youth are doing something right. Congratulations sir.
TheObjectiveVoice 11 years, 3 months ago
That girl is lucky the store manager didn't have a gun of his own because she would have been a dead 13 year old. Boy the choices we make could mean the difference between life and death. This is absolutely sad... who is she and where was her Mommy and Daddy? Where did she get the gun? Who owns the gun? Is it registered to someone? Will she get bailllll?
TheObjectiveVoice 11 years, 3 months ago
You could see Pinder don't playyyy though... she stepped in the wrong storee
SP 11 years, 3 months ago
I hope the PLP doesn't expect these unemployed, desperate people and the people they prey on to vote for them next time.
Ain't gonna happen! And the FNM is certainly NOT the answer.
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