Two arrested for attempted bar heist

Two men have been picked up in connection with a robbery attempt at a bar on Central American Boulevard last week. Joseph Almendarez and Ernest Hinds, both twenty three, have been charged with attempted robbery, three counts of aggravated assault and unlicensed firearm offences after a thirty-eight caliber revolver and ammunition were found at a house they were occupying over the weekend. Last Wednesday night two men wearing masks were in the process of holding up Henry’s Bar on Central American Boulevard when an off duty police officer, Andrew Ramirez, pulled out his own weapon and attempted to arrest them. Unfazed, one of the men fired a shot at the officer and the duo ran out of the bar. One of the two men arrested over the weekend, Ernest Hinds, had been jointly charged with Jermaine Pascasio for the murder of shopkeeper Inez Leal in 2003. Pascasio was recently convicted of the crime but charges against Hinds were withdrawn. Previous to that incident Hinds served five years in Hattieville for burglary.