Female cashier shot at Pharmacy

A FEMALE cashier at a pharmacy was yesterday shot twice when armed bandits stormed the Alyce Glen Shopping Centre just after lunchtime. Marsha Rampersad, 21, of Sea Trace, Patna Village, Diego Martin, was up to late evening warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH) with gunshot wounds to the left leg and arm.

Reports are that around 1.13pm three armed men pulled up in front of the A&L Pharmacy, Petit Valley, in a white B13 Sentra vehicle, whose registration number is believed by the police to have been altered. The men entered the pharmacy and held up Rampersad, relieving her of an undisclosed sum of money. The gun then went off striking Rampersad twice. Police said the bandits then stole a cellular phone belonging to one of the owners of the pharmacy, before  escaping. A report was made and an Emergency-999 vehicle with PC Calliste  arrived on the scene, and took Rampersad to hospital, where she is reported to be in a stable condition.

Senior officers under Sr Supt Selwyn Glasgow and including Insp Narcis Cadette, Sgt Stephen Ramsubhag, Cpl Hayden Hannays, PC Alexis and others from the Homicide department also visited the scene and conducted investigations. Customers and workers at the pharmacy were also interviewed. At the scene yesterday, a worker told Newsday that the three men simply walked in, held up the cashier then scampered when the gun went off. She also said that it was the second time in as many weeks the pharmacy had been held up and robbed.

Police sources confirmed with Newsday that a similar modus operandi was used when the first robbery occurred. Police said in that robbery incident, three armed men carried out the act, however, they could not say whether or not they were the same men. No arrests had been made up to late evening and Cpl Hannays of the Four Roads Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is continuing investigations.