TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Grand Case Incident

Yeah, the bloody pants picture gives great pause.

The past two years have felt safe driving through Sandy Ground but proceed slowly as yes the scooters can sometimes present crazy drivers.

We park in the lot across from Le Pressoir often and although we watch our surroundings, have never had a problem except for the guy trying to get you to pay to park and we haven't seen him for awhile.

Yes this makes you think hard about your safety, but it certainly happens back at home and one of the reasons we don't travel into Philadelphia hardly ever to eat and we would usually went 2-3 times a month

The one time we stayed at GCBC and drove every night to have dinner in Grand Case as we didn't like the secluded walk although many feel safe walking
also we travel in very low season

Just finished lunch in Grand Case and talking to some staff, pretty unfortunate event. The other thing is this is the most busy I have seen the French side and its something else, reservations are pretty much a must.

The French side probably need a more physical presence of Gendarme late night like it was during NYE.

Maybe after this it will happen.

Sometimes the hard truth is if some dudes are yelling and screaming to take your bag at midnight with a gun I would just drop the bag; bad crimes happen everywhere.

Do you beieve they just walked into a gun shop and bought them? They are stolen from somewhere doesn't make to much difference from where or how they got on the island.

Give me a break. No they didn't walk into a gun shop. No such business on island. If they bough or stole them from some other person in possession of them they were somehow smuggled on the island which authorities, if doing their job, should confiscate the gun and arrest the person doing it.

We just got back from Grand Case for a week. Never felt unsafe. We are from a small town in NC. Smaller population than the whole island. We already have one murder this year. We have gun violence robberies, etc. it is a whole lot safer on the island than most of America. Be smart, be aware, and you should be fine.

And, i heard by a local about an attempted? Daytime robbery of taxi driver and the passengers... three assailants.

Also, the yachties had issues at the beginning of dec. The police force found allegedly 20 dingies a few weeks later.

Impossible task on an island with hundreds of boat, yachts arriving or departing daily.

Update on investigation.
LINK

Not really an update. No info.

Now stating he was shot in chest and not leg as previously reported and assailants where on scooters.

Sorry, I missed that. As far as the bad guys being on scooters, that's a given.

And someone on SXM or Bust Facebook page called this "Fake News". UGH.

Craziness

We are due to check in to the GCBC in April. Really hoping “they” follow through and put the police/security/gendarmerie in full view with authority.

If we keep our plans to stay in April, our plan is to be back to the GCBC with plenty of daylight left and use the beach (where passable). Late lunches / early dinners for us. GCBC shuttle if needed.

Hate this even needs to be a topic.

I look at that site every day and never saw that statement. Hopefully not true.

Probably worth a call to GCBC ask if anything is being done on their part. Probably wont be alone in calling.

We are contemplating a summer trip. This has lead to ‘less contemplating’ as we do go there (GC) and it’s not a place we would want to avoid during the trip.

We are not fraidy cats but we generally dont plan a vacation to places where we have a decent chance of being a victim. Or frequent places on island with the same.

I cant imagine a trip to SXM without Bistrot Caraibes. The LOLOs for the original memories and the supporting patronage even if not always great. I like their effort.

The rest of GC we can take/leave.

"The public prosecutor, Xavier Sicot, confirmed to the newspaper Le Pélican this Wednesday, January 8 that "two arrests were made this morning in connection with the facts of Sunday evening". Two days after the events that caused a stir and many reactions, two individuals were arrested by the police."

Probably no way to find the press conference transcript?

Glad they made some arrests….small win I suppose.

Sorry Scuba, I did see it.

I believe you but can't believe people would post that.

It sounds like this terrible shooting took place in a popular area that has been considered safe to walk, at least in the typical dinner hours, but I gather is obviously much more dangerous late at night…

The side discussion about the bandits stopping cars in the Sandy Ground area and robbing those folks is a revelation to us and very disturbing…We haven’t stayed on either side of the island in a few years, but follow the news, and other islands look much safer at the moment…

Seriously? Why would I write something like that otherwise? UGH. What a [censored] thing to say.

All right guys, let's calm down. I know this incident is very disturbing to all, but we need to be kind to each other.