By AVA TURNQUEST


Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

A RESERVE police officer and a 17-year-old boy are in hospital after being shot over the weekend in two separate incidents.

Around 9pm last night, the officer, who was working as a security guard at Budget Food on Baillou Hill Road south, was shot during an armed robbery.

Reports say two men, both of whom were armed with handguns, entered the store and demanded cash.

After robbing the establishment, customers and the officer, the pair fled the area in a reportedly stolen black Cherokee jeep.

The officer was taken to hospital where he is detained in serious condition.

According to police, the teenager was shot in his upper body shortly after 11pm Saturday.

The incident took place at Fleming Street off Baillou Hill Road. The youth was taken to hospital by emergency medical services.

Police are questioning a 19-year-old youth in connection with an armed robbery that took place sometime around 4pm on Friday. A man was reportedly at a business on East Bay Street, west of Fowler Street, when he was robbed of his jewellery and cellphone by a teenager and another man, one of whom was armed with a handgun.

According to police, the suspect in custody is a Bar 20 Corner resident and was arrested shortly after the incident in the area of Okra Hill off Shirley Street.

Later that evening in Exuma, two men entered a Tarbay Stretch home and tied up residents before taking jewellery, electronics and cash.

According to police, the men – one of whom was armed with a handgun — stole a pearl faced gold men’s Rolex watch, a pearl faced ladies Rolex watch, an I-Phone, I-Pad and an undetermined amount of cash.

On Saturday, police arrested 20 men for numerous offences in a crackdown of inner-city communities they say are frequented by prolific offenders. Twelve men were arrested in connection with armed robbery, two concerning housebreaking, four on outstanding criminal warrants, one man for disorderly behaviour and another man for unlawful possession.

Areas targeted in the police operation “Restoration” included Balls Alley, Kemp Road, Whites Addition, Hospital Lane, and Rupert Dean Lane.

Early Sunday morning, a man and his wife were robbed of cash and their blue 2005 Cherokee Jeep. The couple were at a Meadow Street tyre shop when they were approached by two gunmen shortly before 1am.

Later that evening, a man was in the area of Gladstone Road and Ed Ferguson Close when he was approached and robbed by two men of his cash and brown 2005 Nissan Teago. One of the men was armed with a handgun.

The incident took place sometime around 10pm, according to police, who said the culprits fled the area north on Gladstone Road.

Less than an hour later at Boyd and Pitt Roads, a man was robbed of his gold chain, an LG touch screen phone and 2005 grey Honda Accord. The car’s license plate is 260568. According to reports the victim was near a store when he was approached by an armed man clothed in a black hooded jacket and blue jeans. Police also discovered a 12 gauge shotgun near a store off Carmichael Road early Sunday morning.

The shotgun was found during a search of the area east of the Coral Harbour roundabout.