TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Tourist shot during robbery

Not at all the kind of news the island needs. If it is anything like around here, most places are begging for workers, paying higher wages than ever and then the low life resort to robbery.

Sign of the times I fear. For an island where guns are prohibited to own there sure are plenty to go around for the criminals.

Pretty sad the criminals don't follow local law.

Never have and never will.

Wow, scary. Anyone know what restaurant it was?

If I was robbing a restaurant on a Sunday night in grand Case this time of year, it would be Rainbow. Just my guess.

Ritchard--Do you perceive Rainbow to be the busiest? I would imagine all restaurants made a good haul that day, as it was Father's Day.

I read on another forum that it was la Villa in Grand Case.

The lesson, do not resist. It's only money.

He wasn't resisting. He was intervening. Did you bother to read the article?

Islandgem--OK thanks.

Scuba--and why would you intervene in this situation?? Just not smart, in my opinion.

I would not intervene either. Didn't say it was OK to do so. Just saying that is what he did. Not resisting.

I can almost understand it more if you personally are being robbed, but a customer at a business? Heck no!!

That would explain my La Villa was closed last night (Monday) when we tried to go there to eat.

Customer wasn't being robbed. Money was stolen out of cash register. I thought article was pretty clear.

I'm glad I live in a country where the criminals obey the law!

On a more serious note, I can't think of a single good reason for a tourist to try to prevent armed robbers from leaving after they just held people at gunpoint. You typically don't want people with guns to hang around. This has to be either sloppy reporting or there is more to the story. Either way, the victim is very, very lucky to be alive.

Unfortunately, SXM has created a situation where criminals can look at their chances of getting caught AND getting successfully prosecuted AND serving any real punishment in the future, compare that to what they might gain right now, and decide that its worth the crime. As an added bonus, they can be virtually certain their law-abiding victims won't/can't fight back, so there is no real immediate consequence to their actions. Criminals may be evil sociopaths, but they tend not to be irrational. The good news is that most crime like this tends to be committed by a few repeat offenders. But unless SXM gets serious about weeding those people out, it won't get better.

Duh, that was my point!!!!!

I would not have pursued them on foot being unarmed until I got in my car and ran them over…

That was 100% in jest. It is not a joking matter but with lax enforcement, "catch and release" (like many places in the states) and soft on crime policies, many laws are basically useless.

Was anyone able to confirm the location of the robbery? I heard both Rainbow and La Villa.

Ritchard said that was his GUESS. I have no idea.

As far as LaVilla being closed the next night, anyone know if they normally are open on Monday? Maybe they are always closed on Monday.

Their posted hours say closed Wednesday. FYI, they were also closed last night (Tuesday). They were open Monday a week ago, the day we arrived.

OK, thanks for the info.

Definitely La Villa restaurant. The video, of the victim being attended to by the EMT's, confirms.

Carol, way late to this comment, but I had been up there on the prior Sunday night and the town was awful quiet save for the Lolos and Rainbow and Capt Frenchy's. I was just taking a guess though.

No problem.

By the way, does anyone have an update on his condition? I hope he is OK.

Carol, a local that you know well told me that he was “taken care of at the hospital”. I assumed that meant that his treatment was uncomplicated.

OK thanks.

Glad the tourist that was shot in the leg is OK! The scar will be a story he can tell in the future.
It was in Jest what I said and if I was in that situation I would be down on the floor having a panic attack.

We ate at La Ville on June 19. They were closed on Tuesday, the 21st. and again on Wednesday. La Villa is Our favorite restaurant. They are usually closing up around 10 or so. kind of late for La Villa.

This man was very lucky to have been shot in the leg and not elsewhere. As a career banker, I have had the misfortune to have been robbed several times, twice at gun-point. On one occasion, I had the ceiling shot out over my head by an impatient young man who thought we were not putting the cash into his bag fast enough. After that, he put the gun to the manager's head.

NEVER, EVER intervene, interfere - whatever you want to call it - with someone with a gun under these circumstances.

Things could have been so much worse for this tourist and others in the restaurant.

Glad to hear the man recovered physically. Not so sure about his psychological state, though.