*** BREAKING NEWS ***: Police Officer shot in Town, Police have the area lockdown !!!
Link to story

story here

thank you Carol. I couldn't figure out how to post the link.

Hi. I posted a link to the story. Please don't copy and paste copyrighted information.

Hopefully the officer will be ok..

We are here on the island. My friends were shopping in phillipsburg when this happened today. My friends are currently on lockdown in phillipsburg. This is horrible. Prayers to all involved. I hate that these things are happening here and in broad daylight. Terrifying for all involved.

What do you mean by 'on lockdown'? They can't leave the town?

They locked them inside the jewelry store until a little bit ago.

this happened right next to our liquor store.they tried to rob Oro Diamante. our staff was in lock down in our store. the police asked everyone not to leave.
Our staff has since left. police man is at the hospital in critical condition, the last I heard.
THis is very upsetting to us all

How scary for everyone..

The online story now says they tried to rob Joe's Jewelry store.

There were 3 ships in town today. The Carnival Sunshine and Carnival Conquest along with Independence of the Seas totally nearly 11000 people. Thankfully, they caught the person who did the shooting, but there will be a lot of damage to the reputation of St. Maarten.

Prayers for Officer "Benjy" <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" />

a recent update on the young officer's condition from a friend:
"the bleeding has been stabilized but he is presently in a coma because of loss of blood.. we are all praying here together but we needs your prayers on the outside.. please help us as we pray for him to pull thru this...."

Carol, I think the online story mentioned the shooting was in the area outside Joe's Jewelry. If I am not mistaken they tried to rob Oro Diamante

Hope this officer survives. He is in our prayers. Say what you want about the police, but they are the fine line between safety and anarchy. We shop at Oro Diamonte, hopefully Raj and his staff are safe as well as everyone in the vicinity of this dirtbag who caused all this. Our hearts go out to this police officer's family, friends, and loved ones.

wow, so sad. I hope he is OK.

told my wife and she said "WHAT?? that doesn't happen there!!".. I told her "you can't say that anymore".. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sad.gif" alt="" />

unfortunately...it happens EVERYWHERE!!!

Unfortunately, Ed, you are correct. Prayers for the injured officer.

Please, if anyone has updates on this today, it would be very much appreciated. Raju is a dear friend and his staff is like his family. I'm sure they are all devastated and praying for the officer that came to help them.
My heart is heavy for this tragedy on this beautiful island that so many people, especially the Badhrani brothers , work so hard to keep pristine and respected.

Best wishes to the officer and his family

I hope that they can air lift him to a bigger hospital-prayers for sure.

I just posted a link. He is supposed to be flown to the DR today.

that's good news -lets hope that there's more coming

prayers to the officer and his family

if there any place donations can be sent

It's good news (however fragile) that he was good enough to be medevac-ed out.

Well, as of the latest update to that story, doctors are still trying to get him stablized enough to be able to fly.

yes, I am not sure that he has been flown out yet

Flown to DR....hmmmm....not knowing anything about any hospital facilty in the Caribbean.....but if asked to guess, I would've thought another French (Martinue/Guadalupe)/Dutch Island (Curacao), San Juan, St Thomas, Venezuela, Cuba or the USA........anybody have a guess on why DR?

I have known other local residents go to DR for medical care.

it is very common here..

DR actually has some of best medical facilities in Caribbean. I cannot imagine that cost will be any factor in doing what is best for this hero.

update: the officer has been flown out to DR.
and a reward is being offered for information on the other suspect:
http://www.soualiganewsday.com/local/soualiga-news-today/item/4489-investigation-team-formed-us$10,000-reward-for-information-on-second-suspect-involved-in-police-shooting.html

The one link I posted above has been updated to state he was flown out this evening. All here I'm sure are sending all good thoughts to the officer and his family for a full recovery. And we do hope that the other criminal is in fact caught soon.

Daily Herald story Several businesses were also closed in support of the injured officer.

Daily Herald story As far as I'm concerned, I think they should ban scooters everywhere. The criminals seem to ALWAYS use scooters.

Same was true in Grandcase with scooters.....don't hear much about Grand Case...................perhaps Phillipsburg (particularly jewelry shops) need to band together to get private patrols in addition to the steps announced to fill police vacancies.

I don't know what the costs would be but I'm sure if a dollar per visitor were somehow allocated it would easily put a tourist cop in every area: Phillipsburg, Marigot, Grand Case.

These guys seem pretty brazen

Yes, it seems that the private security in Grand Case has helped. Most of these scooters are either not registered or not insured also.

So sad

Link with audio recording by Police spokesman Ricardo Henson

it is very sad. everyone on the island is deeply saddened by his loss. I believe he has been flown back to SXM already. Sharon Harris reported on FB that his fellow officers lined the road in solidarity as the ambulance passed