BY SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

A MAN died in hospital hours after he was shot on Homestead Street yesterday, police said.

According to police, the victim was standing in the street around noon when a man armed with a handgun approached him and shot him before fleeing the area on foot. Police have not released the victim’s identity.

The death pushed the country’s murder count to 140 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

Police are also asking for the public’s help in locating the persons responsible for two separate overnight armed robberies.

In the first incident, shortly after 11.30pm on Wednesday, police said a man and a woman were standing in front of a business on St Alban’s Drive, when three men in a dark vehicle, armed with a handgun, approached and robbed them of a cell phone and cash before speeding off.

In the second incident, shortly after 12.30am on Thursday, police said three men armed with a handgun robbed another man of his blue 2007 Honda Accord in front of a business on Nassau Street before speeding off.

A short while later police, on routine patrol in the East Street South area, attempted to stop the suspects, who sped off.

A chase followed that ended on Bougainvillea Boulevard, South Beach, where the vehicle crashed into a wall and the suspects escaped.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS.