Briton seeks refuge in MoBay airport after being shot

WESTERN BUREAU:

A 33-year-old British man sought refuge inside the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, on Monday night after gunmen fired shots into the vehicle he was driving, injuring him.

About 9:30 p.m., the man – a forex trader of a Valley Mill address in the United Kingdom – was travelling with his partner and two Jamaican relatives along Queen’s Drive, near the airport, when the attack occurred.

According to police reports, after the vehicle stopped at a traffic light, a motor car pulled up alongside it, and the occupants opened fire.

The Briton was shot in the upper section of his body.

He then drove the vehicle on to the Sangster International Airport compound, where he pulled up close to the arrivals hall and ran inside for collapsing.

The dramatic incident unfolded in the terminal in front of passengers arriving from the United Kingdom.

Police personnel stationed at the airport responded and transported the wounded man to hospital. His condition remained unknown up to press time last night.

It is unclear whether any of the other occupants of the vehicle were injured.

Investigators have not disclosed a possible motive for the shooting or stated whether they believe the injured man was specifically targeted.

The attack came two nights after another motorist narrowly escaped injury when gunmen reportedly opened fire at his vehicle along the Rose Hall main road.

In that incident on Saturday night, a Jamaica Union of Travellers Association (JUTA) driver was reportedly on his way to pick up his wife from work when a vehicle travelling ahead of him suddenly stopped.

Three men armed with guns reportedly alighted and one fired a shot through the windscreen of his vehicle.

The JUTA driver, who was not hit, then trailed the vehicle, which later crashed into a parked truck. The impact reportedly caused the vehicle to spin and collide with the JUTA driver’s vehicle.

Over recent weeks, there have been cases of carjacking between St James and Trelawny, where motorists were forced out of their vehicles by armed men and the vehicles stolen.

A Trelawny motorist, who had his Voxy motor vehicle taken from him at gunpoint in the parish two weeks ago, found it scrapped in Paradise, Norwood, St James, days later.

editorial@gleanerjm.com