Bandits kill teen employee

BANDITS raided a San Fernando store twice in mere hours, killing a worker yesterday in what police said was another attempt by the same bandits to commit a brutal daylight robbery in the busy High Street shopping area in the midst of hundreds of shoppers. Dead is Arvin Bissoondial, 17, of Church Street, La Romaine. Three bandits walked into Rennie’s Shoe Store around 4.30 pm after alighting from a vehicle which pulled up in heavy traffic on lower High Street. According to reports, one of the men pointed a gun at the proprietor Rennie Samaroo. The bandits were not wearing masks. Police believe it was the same men  who on Friday afternoon walked into the store brandishing guns and pointed a gun at Samaroo. They made off with $15,000 and two pairs of Jordan sneakers. This robbery prompted San Fernando Mayor Ian Atherly to renew his call for High Street businessmen to accept his plan to convert High Street into a pedestrian mall in which the hub of business activity will be blocked from all vehicular traffic. Yesterday minutes after the killing, Mayor Atherly was at the business place sharing in the grief of co-workers who wept openly over Bissoondial’s body lying in the store in a pool of blood.

Police said a car had been circling between High and St James Streets in preparation for the second strike at Rennie’s. According to the report, the bandit fired a shot in the air and the workers, five of them including Bissoondial, scampered for safety. Police could not say whether money was taken, but the report said that when the men ran out the store, one of them turned around and fired two shots indiscriminately inside the store. One of the bullets struck the wall. The other fatally struck Bissoondial in the neck. No other worker was hurt. Bissoondial slumped to the ground along an aisle in the middle of the store and died. Mayor Atherly, who visited the business place, said: “This is terrible. Undoubtedly, something must be done about the crime situation.” The mayor, accompanied by policemen, then visited Bissoondial’s home where he broke the news to the youth’s father. Employees said that yesterday was Bissoondial’s last day at work, for he was expected to return to his job at Petrotrin tomorrow. Bissoondial, who celebrated his birthday on Divali Day two just over a month ago, was recently successful in gaining eight Ordinary Level passes in the CXC examinations. Police said last night that they arrested three men with guns at Gasparillo and had been questioning them in connection with the incident.