Mennonite women tell of terror in Spanish Lookout
When we received word on Tuesday that a group of men had shot and wounded a twenty three year old Mennonite woman as she drove through Spanish Lookout on Monday night, we were immediately reminded of the brutal May second murder and mass robbery on the Hummingbird Highway. Today News Five’s Patrick Jones traveled to Spanish Lookout to see if the two incidents could be related. While the preliminary evidence seems to indicate that they are not, it does not make the incident any less terrifying for the victims or their family.
Monday night’s shooting incident did not bring life in Spanish Lookout to a halt, but the attack on three Mennonite girls was still a shock to the entire community. Twenty-three year old Nellie Plett and two of her sisters were shot at as they drove to a neighbor’s house.
Nellie Plett, Driver of Car
“When I crossed the creek there, then there came people on the road and I saw they had soldier’s clothes on. One of them was, the front one, he was standing in the middle of the road and had the shotgun right to the car.”
Eleanor Plett, Passenger in Car
“We went to our neighbors and when we passed the creek we saw some persons coming out of the ditch and the first one, it was, ahead of the others was shooting the time we were starting to back up.”
Nellie said that at first she thought it was a group of B.D.F. soldiers, but when the gunshots started, she realized she was in trouble.
Nellie Plett
“Well, I just saw the first one, he had a gun so I just knew that they would be, they were bad people.”
Patrick Jones
“When the hail of gunshots rang out on Monday night, Nelly Plett and her two sisters narrowly escaped a disaster. Perhaps it was Nellie’s quick thinking to throw the car into reverse and speed away that meant the difference between life and death.”
The Plett’s next door neighbor, George Penner, was in his front yard and witnessed the incident from a distance.
George Penner, Neighbor
“We were sitting outside in the yard and we saw the car going to the east and then we noticed that… We thought fire crackers were going and then someone said that’s not true, they are shooting on and we saw the car turning very suddenly.”
Penner says that from what he and his sons heard, there was more than one type of firearm being fired.
George Penner
“In our minds it was three different kinds of shots, but really wouldn’t know how many; it just went very quickly.”
Q: “So just listening to the blast you could say that they were from different types of guns?”
George Penner
“That’s what we had our talking about it, one to another, right.”
The bullets penetrated the body of the car, shattering the rear windshield and hitting Nellie. Dazed and confused, she kept her foot on the pedal and with the help of her younger sister Eleanor was able to get home and almost collapsed on the living room floor.
Nellie Plett
“I can’t remember good what happened but when I was going home I felt that my mind was not really clear. But I felt that the tire was flat and I just gone home like that.”
The girls say they did not get a good look at their attackers, but they all agree that the lead gunman, who wore a cap, was of a dark complexion.
Valerie Plett, Nellie’s Sister
“When Nellie stopped the car I saw that there were people and then they looked back, but they said and then they looked back and then there was one or some people and then she turned the car and went home and then when we were at home then we went in and then I felt just beyond her foot and there was blood on the floor.”
Eleanor Plett
“I would say about from seven to ten persons.”
Q: “And they were all shooting?”
Eleanor Plett
“I don’t know, I have only seen two of them that were shooting.”
Q: “The one at the front and where was the other one?”
Eleanor Plett
“About at his place, about beside of him, of the first one.”
The girls’ father Denver Plett, who also happens to a leader in Spanish Lookout says the entire community feels threatened by the incident and hopes that the perpetrators are brought in soon.
Denver Plett, Father of victims
“It’s very hard because if we can’t live in peace or whatever we are free to this right. Because here we feel like we are not safe, because nobody knows if it can happen again, no.”
Despite feeling unsafe Plett says using guns for protection is totally out of the question; they will continue to rely on the power of prayer for security.
Denver Plett
“We want protection from God or from the government. We are thinking about what could be the cause of this because if we have enemies or that, that could happen, right. But so far as we know, we don’t have any, so it’s hard to find a solution; I mean a cause of this.”
Although he’s glad the incident did not have a more dramatic outcome, Plett says he feels no bitterness towards his daughter’s attackers and promised to offer a word of prayer for them. In the meantime, armed police, B.D.F. and Dragon Unit personnel have taken up positions in the area to try and flush out the group of desperados. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
The consensus in Spanish Lookout seems to be that residents, not known for their nightlife, will go out even less and lock up even earlier than usual.
