“Y’all don’t make a sound! Don’t move!” – gunmen to patrons in supermarket invasion
Armed bandits stormed a Chinese Supermarket at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, and harassed customers before exiting with an unknown sum of cash. This publication understands that that incident occurred at around 19:15h on Tuesday, April 18.
Speaking with this publication on Wednesday, one of the victims shared that the robbery, which lasted for about three minutes, took place just as she and her husband were about to cash out and leave the supermarket.
She related that she and her husband had stopped to purchase water and some groceries, and while she was at the cashier, her husband had ventured outside to get a bottle of water. That was when two armed men entered the store and approached her, demanding money.
The Eccles Supermarket where the robbery occurred (Rupesh Singh photo)
“I was cashing out our items, and he went to get the water from outside, where the Chinese usually have it, to put [in] the car. So, as I turn and I finish paying the cashier, I saw two guys walking coming in, and one of them come to me and say, ‘Give me the money you have!’,” she said.
“I had the money in my pocket, and I leave it there. And when I turned and I looked properly, I saw he had a gun. The other one with the other gun [went] over to the [cashier] and he was emptying the register,” the victim shared.
She added that she screamed and one of the bandits choked her and ordered her to stay quiet. Subsequently, her husband, who was unaware that a robbery was taking place, re-entered the building and was ordered by one of the bandits to “get inside”, with which he complied.
“I was on the ground, my husband tried to console me, he [a bandit] was pointing the gun to him and telling him, ‘Not a word…don’t say anything’, and he turn and he tell the bandit, ‘She’s not well, that’s why she’s crying’, and he (the bandit) said, ‘You don’t hear what I said?! Y’all don’t make a sound! Don’t move!’,” she shared.
According to the victim, she did not get a good look at the perpetrators. However, from what she could remember, they were both wearing hats.
Investigations are ongoing.
