Sav-U Supermarket is out more than one hundred thousand dollars tonight after a gunman pulled off a broad daylight heist of their moneybag. The gunman robbed the supermarket's security guard who is now the police's prime suspect.
At around 9:15, the Santiago Castillo guard, whose name police aren't releasing, walked along with a KBH security guard from Sav-U to the First Caribbean Bank branch office, which is just next door in the San Cas Plaza, a mere 75 feet away. The San Cas guard carried a deposit bag with $80,000 in cash and $20,000 n checks, the receipts of their supermarket sales since Friday.
Just as the two were near the door of the bank, a man wearing a hat walked up and pulled out a small gun and put it to security officer's head. The KBH security guard scrambled to the ground while the San Cas security officer handed over the bag. The robber picked up his bike which was parked around eastern side of the plaza and rode off with the money bag containing.
Witnesses tell us that the gunman was talking on his cell phone prior to the robbery and so was the San Cas security guard. That says Assistant Superintendent of Police and chief investigator Chester Williams makes him their prime suspect.
ASP Chester Williams,
"We have the security guard, who is employed by Sav-U Supermarket, presently detained because his story that he is giving us is not consistent with what actually took place on the scene and it appears as if he has something that he is hiding. Nonetheless we don't want to be too quick to jump on anyone, trying to accuse them, but it is a process we're going through and we are looking at
him as a possible suspect. When you look at the distance between Sav-U and the bank, it is just about a hundred yards. It is highly impossible someone to have known that this money was leaving that establishment at that particular time, being deposited at the bank. It clearly shows that the person who committed this act has some sort of source within the supermarket who may have divulged to this person that at that particular time the money was leaving Sav-U on its way to the bank because the distance is very very short and we're looking at that likewise."
Keith Swift,
And we also understand that this same suspect was on his cell phone as he as was approaching the bank. Can you confirm that?
ASP Chester Wiliams,
"We also had that information and we are also looking at that. I must also mention that a reward of $5,000 is being offered to anyone who gives information leading to the solving of this crime."
Again tonight the San Cas security guard remains detained but the robber remains on the run. Again there is a $5,000 reward being offered for information on the robbery. That security guard has only been with the company for two months. ASP Williams also pointed out to us that a surveillance camera would have made solving the case quicker. He adds that businesses, like Sav-U, were warned in a letter from the Officer Commanding Eastern Division about their vulnerability to crimes like this morning's robbery. San Cas's chief Santino Castillo declined comment today but did tell us they are meeting with the security company to come up with new security measures to ensure this isn't repeated.
