I disagree. These comments are not intended to be rude at all in my opinion. How many people are out and running around at 3:00 a.m. in the morning? Just trying to say that bad things are far more likely to happen in the dead of the night when very few people are around rather during day time hours. Would you walk the boardwalk in Philipsburg at 3:00 a.m. alone or as a couple? To me, this story would be far worse (it's bad enough) if this attempted robbery and shooting happened at 3:00 p.m. Unfortunately, the 'creatures of the night' come out under the cover of darkness so discussing this provides sound advice for both tourists and the residents of St. Maarten.