Thief Shot During Hold-up at Grocery Shop
The peace of the Eight Miles Community was shattered this morning when a hold-up at a grocery store left one of the alleged perpetrators dead, even though he arrived prepared, wearing a bulletproof vest. It all unfolded around nine a.m., and News Five’s Paul Lopez arrived on the scene just moments later.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
At around nine a.m. residents in the 8 mile community along the George Price Highway heard about four gunshots ring out.
8 Miles Community Resident
8 Miles Community Resident [Via Facebook]
“Earlier I heard four shots. Then, must be like twenty minutes I hear ambulance and police. So I come out yah fuh come check more and less weh the happen.”
When the smoke cleared, one man was dead and several others were injured. The deceased has been identified as nineteen-year-old Ashton Samuels. This is Samuels wearing a bulletproof vest and brandishing a firearm in an image, reportedly taken moments before the robbery. Reports are that Samuels entered Jacky’s Fast Food and Supermarket along with three other male individuals and attempted to rob the store.
Ashton Samuels
Gerald Gillette, Grandfather of Tyler Ramclam
“I was over there, I was sitting over there and a gentleman came on that bicycle you see lying down on that cement deh and grabbed me and was trying to pull me into the shop.”
Police says that once inside the store the men met two women inside the store. The culprits pointed their firearms at them and proceeded to take an undisclosed amount of cash from a white container under the counter. They then moved to the kitchen where the accosted business owner Chu Rong Zhang and relieved him of his wallet.
Gerald Gillette
“I saw the owner of the shop; the Chinese came out with blood over his head and coming down his face and all that.”
Zhang was knocked out momentarily. He regained consciousness in time to retrieve his licensed shotgun and walk to the back of his building. There he reported fired at three of the fleeing men who were attempting to jump a barbed-wire fence. Samuels’s bulletproof vest did nothing to guard his life, as he received multiple gunshots to the face. A second assailant fell the yard, while an injured Tyler Ramclam was able to scale the fence. But, a brief search in the area led police to him, sitting on an old fridge, inside some bushes. He was attended by medical personnel, placed into an ambulance, and rushed to the hospital.
Gerald Gillette
Gerald Gillette
“I know the Chinese man has a gun, and I was made to understand that the young ladies also have guns under the counter. But, it’s not something that I know, or I see.”
Paul Lopez
“We heard people saying that they shouldn’t have been shot, these young men.”
Gerald Gillette
“Well, as far as I am concerned, if I go to rob you and you shoot me I deserve it. And, as far as I am concerned, laziness is one of the worst diseases. Because, by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread.”
Members of the community lined the highway and surrounded the supermarket as they awaited the removal of Samuel’s lifeless body. Ramclam’s grandfather believes his grandson did not take part in the robbery because he says he did not see his grandson in the area all morning.
Gerald Gillette
“People are claiming that my grandson whose name is Tyler came out of there. I did not see my grandson came out here at all this morning. Right, so I would just like to clear that up, that my grandson was not out here.”
Tyler Ramclam’s was listed in a stable condition. The businessman was treated for the injuries he sustained to the head and discharged. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.
