http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Ban ... 48121.htmlBandit killed in robbery
By By Nikita Braxton-Benjamin
Story Created: Mar 21, 2015 at 9:49 PM ECT
Story Updated: Mar 21, 2015 at 9:49 PM ECT
A FAMILY’S preparation for the likelihood that there was a robbery at their businessplace was realised on Friday night when three gun-toting men arrived at their bar.
In the end, one of the assailants was shot.
Police believe a 30-year-old man who died while being treated for a gunshot wound in Tarodale was one of the men who robbed patrons at the bar.
Ryan Ramsahai who has operated the family’s bar, Rainbow Recreation Club, at Williamsville for the past eight years said after several bars were robbed in the area, they had been warned by residents that they might be next.
“When you running a businesses you need to set yourself and brace for that,” Ramsahai said.
The family made preparations which included installing surveillance cameras.
Around 9.15 a.m. Ramsahai, his mother, brother and father were at the bar when three men shot a patron outside the establishment.
He said as the gun-toting men entered, his mother shouted “bandits” and took off the breaker for the electricity.
He said his father got his licenced firearm.
There were several people in the bar at the time, some playing on the gambling machines.
They were all ordered to lie on the ground as the three men took the patrons’ valuables and money.
Ramsahai, a welder/fabricator, said he went to the kitchen area and put on the light, causing one of the assailants to exit the bar.
Ramsahai said as the man came out, there was an exchange of gunfire with his father and the bandit was shot.
He was placed in a car by the other men who drove away.
The incident lasted less than ten minutes. Ramsahai believes that if his family had not acted, one of them or their customers would have been killed.
He said this was the first time the family was robbed but they had been warned by people in the area to be careful after other bars in the area had been robbed.
He said their warnings were taken as a wake-up call.
Ramsahai said his 69-year-old father was traumatised.
He said the incident will not cause him to close the family’s business as he believed it is the safest bar to lime.
Emergency personnel were called to Tarodale on Friday night and found Shaka James, 30.
Police said he had a gunshot wound to his chest which they believe was sustained during a robbery.
He died before he was taken to hospital.
In another shooting on Friday night, Jimal Jobe of Point Lisas Gardens, Couva was killed as he made his way home.
Jobe, 21, was shot around 10 p.m. on the corner of Southern Main Road and Lisas Boulevard, Couva, near a diner.
His shooter escaped on foot.
Officers from the Couva Police Station visited the scene.
Jobe’s killing brought the murder toll for the year so far to 76.
On March 19 last year the murder toll stood at 103.