SATURDAY morning shopping on upper High Street, San Fernando came to a standstill as four bandits robbed a jewellery store, killing an employee on the compound.

Andy Alberto Macias Hosein, 33, who has dual Venezuelan and Trinidadian citizenship, was shot in the back at he tried to escape when the bandits entered Ketan Jewellers and announced a hold-up at about 10.30 am.

The gunmen told staff and shoppers to remain calm and no one would get hurt. Hosein who was standing by the doorway, panicked and tried to escape. Shots were fired as he retreated and fell to the pavement on his back, dying almost instantly.

As Hosein’s body, clad in a blue jersey and denim, lay on the pavement, the bandits smashed the glass showcase with implements they brought, grabbing handfuls of jewellery which they stuffed in their pockets.

The four men later escaped through the nearby Carlton Centre. Reports are that a car in which they escaped was found abandoned.

Shoppers gathered around Hosein, with some heard asking others to call the ambulance and the police. They complained that the police were tardy in their response, coming long after the body began getting cold and so too the trail of the bandits.

Both San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello and president of the Greater San Fernando Chamber Kiran Singh were on the scene, lamenting the state of crime in the country.

This is the third murder in San Fernando within the last week.

Recently two men were shot and killed while they sat in a vehicle at South Park Mall in broad daylight.

On Wednesday morning, Salina Mohammed, 40, was shot near her home at Green Acres, San Fernando, as she made her way to work in her Nissan Wingroad.

This story will be updated.

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