Businessman gets a bullet over the head at closing time

A Chinese grocer is tonight lucky to be alive after being grazed over the head by a bullet during an armed holdup on Saturday night.  Forty-five year old Jian Liang Li, proprietor of Liang Kee Fast Food near mile two and half on the Northern Highway, was the victim of an attempted robbery when a trio of men entered the store to purchase water.  According to Li’s daughter, shortly before eleven o’clock that night her father was pulling down the shutters at the entrance of the store when he was approached by the robbers.

Voice of: Daughter of Jian Liang Li

“When a man came to buy a shilling water and it was a stranger, it was the first time he came by here, and then when my pa came ready to shut the door he just came in and then used a gun and pointed it at him.  And then two other skinny ones came here and one went to shut one of the doors at the front and one from the front right here.  Since the front [door] is hard to shut so they only shut it halfway and then the man just used the gun and pointed it at my pa and then the two skinny men saw the cops past or a police car past.  They were ready to go and then the fat man still didn’t want to leave and that’s when my mom saw that something was wrong and then they come and told me that a robbery was here and I was in my room.  And then they told me to call the police.  And then when my pa sat on the ground here with his head down and he was telling my mom in Chinese not to come out here because there was a robbery here.  And then the man must have thought that he told [my mom] something wrong because he didn’t really understand it and he just shot my pa in his head.”

Isani Cayetano

“Did police respond anytime thereafter?  How fast was that response?”

Voice of: Daughter of Jian Liang Li

“Like when he got shot and five minutes after the police came.  A car just passed and then they took my pa to the hospital and then a next police car came and then took over the scene.”

Isani Cayetano

“Was your father grazed by the bullet or did the bullet do any kind other damages?”

Voice of: Daughter of Jian Liang Li

“No, no other damages.  The bullet just went over it.  Nothing happened.  He just got a scratch on his skull.”

Isani Cayetano

“Is it the first time this business has been robbed?”

Voice of: Daughter of Jian Liang Li

“Since my father began managing this is the first time.  When it wasn’t him managing it has happened more than once.”

Following the incident the men fled on separate bicycles in the direction of Buttonwood Bay.  While nothing was taken from the store during the holdup, Li, who was injured in the head, was admitted to ward in stable condition.  Police have since detained two persons for questioning.