(Trinidad Guardian) – A Mt Hope businessman said he was prepared to be killed, moments after he fought back with three armed robbers, shooting one of them in the process on Tuesday afternoon.
Bertram Dookeran, a former police sergeant, said it was about time that businessmen and the public fight back in order to help deal with the crime situation which has griped the country. Dookeran opened fire on three men who fired shots at him during an attempted robbery at his hardware store. The incident occurred around 1 pm on Eastern Main Road, Mt Hope. Up to late Tuesday, a 19-year-old man, of Mt Hope Road, remained warded at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope in a critical condition.
The suspect sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest. Describing the incident as a “kill or be killed” scenario, Dookeran said he did the right the thing. ‘When criminals enter your business place, they come with the intention to kill, especially if they are met with resistance,” he said. “As a matter of fact I am prepared for them and I have made up my mind to die fighting them.
“You can’t afford to continue being cowards to those criminals and definitely I am not afraid of them and I will fight back,” Dookeran told the T&T Guardian at his office, shortly after the incident. He said it was the second time in a year that armed assailants attacked his business. He said in May last year, two men armed with shotguns entered the establishment and announced a hold-up. The cartridge for the weapon fell out and a struggle ensued between Dookeran and the men, who fled the scene with the day’s sales.
One of the men was shot and killed by police, during a shoot-out at Mt Hope Place, Mt Hope. “Businessmen and members of the public need to start fighting back even though some of us may fall in the process,” Dookeran said. “The time for being a coward has to stop…I cannot tolerate this nonsense anymore.”
According to the businessman, he was at his establishment when he observed three men walking towards his office. “I saw them coming and I asked a worker if he knew them…The worker did not recognise them and he decided to close the gate,” he said.
