Three wounded in separate city shootings

The downtown streets were crowded with students of SJC extension waiting for classes to start … but that didn’t stop a trio of gunmen from shooting up a popular King Street restaurant, leaving its proprietor in the hospital.

Jacqueline Woods
Forty-five year old Garnet Brown, well known chef and proprietor of Jambel?s Jerk Pit on King Street, was sitting at his usual place around seven-thirty on Wednesday night when three young men entered the restaurant. One of them, who was armed with a gun, ordered everyone inside the establishment not to move, but then proceeded to fire a shot at a customer seated in the restaurant.

Fortunately, the customer was not hit. But Brown was not so lucky. According to reports, when the gun man walked up to where he was seated on this bar stool and pointed the gun at him, Brown tried to push the weapon away. The result was another shot … this one found its mark. Today, Betty Rowland says the doctors expect her common-law husband to recover from his injuries.

Betty Rowland, Common Law Wife
?Well he is doing fairly okay right now at this present moment.?

Jacqueline Woods
?Where was he shot and what are doctors saying about his prognosis??

Betty Rowland
?He was shot in the lower abdomen and his prognosis is fairly okay right now. He is doing pretty much okay right now.?

The three assailants got away by riding their bikes up-stop on King Street. A number of students standing at S.J.C. extension saw them ride by and it is those witnesses the police hope will come forward with the necessary information that leads to an arrest.

For all their trouble, the shooters apparently left empty handed. Police say they are investigating to see whether or not the hold-up was even an attempted robbery. Today, the popular restaurant was opened for business.

Betty Rowland, Common Law Wife
?Yes we are deciding to remain open today especially, because we are expecting our customers, our regular customers.?

However, there are plans to heighten security.

Police had little time to rest following the commotion at Jambel?s restaurant as a team of officers was dispatched to yet another shooting, this time in the Yabra area. When police arrived at the intersection of Gill Street and Caesar Ridge Road they came upon two persons suffering with gun shot wounds. The victims, identified as twenty-eight year old Preston Reynolds and forty-three year old Carl Reynard, had been shot in the legs and back. Reynolds has since been discharged from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital but Reynard remains in a serious condition. Reynolds told the police that around eight last night he was along with Reynard and one Demus Williams when a young man dressed in full black rode up on a bicycle and fired several shots in their direction. Reynolds was hit in his left leg and Reynard suffered gunshot wounds to his right leg and upper back. Williams was not injured. Although the victims have been able to tell police what transpired, authorities say at this time they do not know why the trio were targeted. One suspect is being sought.

Around the same time that police were responding to the shots in Yabra another business place on the south side was being held up. Around nine last night two men entered Henry’s Bar and restaurant on Central American Boulevard. The duo wore masks and were armed with handguns, which they used to enforce their demands for money. At the time of the incident, there were several persons inside the establishment, among them an off duty police officer, Sergeant Andrew Ramirez. Ramirez, who is attached to the Crimes Investigation Branch, told police that as the hold-up was in progress, he reached for his firearm and identified himself to the robbers as a police officer. The cop’s presence did not seem to faze the men as one of them fired a shot at the officer. The bullet tore through Ramirez’s shirt, but did not make contact with the policeman’s skin as it travelled under his arm. Sgt. Ramirez told his colleagues he did not fire back because he feared he would have injured innocent bystanders. The two assailants fled the scene and are being sought by authorities.