The suspect being taken into the police station on Monday evening. (Brenda Rodriguez-Allen photo)
MIDDLE REGION--A woman is in critical condition nursing bullet wounds at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) after she was shot and severely injured reportedly by her partner on Basseterre Road in Middle Region, around 1:30pm on Boxing Day.
The Daily Herald understands that the man was about to turn himself in to the police on Monday night after he was convinced to do so by some friends, including Brenda Rodriguez-Allen and Gromyko Wilson, when police intercepted him and took him into custody. He had agreed to turn himself in, but had one request – to see his mother first.
Reports indicate that as he was en route, police intercepted him on A.J.C. Brouwer Road near “Harold Jack Lookout Point” and took him into custody. The police said in a statement on Monday night that the suspect was arrested without incident and was transported to the Philipsburg police station where he is being held for questioning.
Photos of the actual incident have been circulating on social media since Sunday. One of the photos shows the alleged suspect with his hands raised and holding a gun and the woman on the ground clutching her stomach, apparently screaming in pain. Another photo shows the man with a young child in his hands and the woman standing in front of him with her hands folded; yet another photo shows him apparently entering a white Hyundai i10 with the licence plates clearly visible.
Police spokesperson E. Josepha said in a press statement that the woman remains in hospital in critical condition.
The suspect fled the scene in a car after the shooting. “He is still at large and sought by police. Several photographs of the suspect are circulating on social media. The suspect is urged to surrender to police as soon as possible for his own safety and that of others,” it was stated in the release.
“This incident of what appears to be relational violence was one of several calls police answered during the busy holiday weekend. Amongst the interventions and mediations by police were several cases in which people suffered serious injuries,” it was stated in the release.
