By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

DETAILS emerged yesterday of the ordeal a 39-year-old father suffered on Tuesday afternoon at the hands of an armed robber, who forced him to drive to a cash dispenser, threatened to go to his home for more money and, as he tried to escape, shot him in the neck, leaving him in serious condition in hospital.

Angelo Black, a full-time staff collection agent with Commonwealth Bank, was sitting in his Ford Ranger truck on Yamacraw Beach having lunch shortly after noon when he was approached by a man with a handgun who demanded cash.

According to reports, Mr Black was then ordered by the suspect to drive to an ATM on Wulff Road, where, The Tribune understands, Mr Black was forced to withdraw cash from his account. “It wasn’t much,” The Tribune was told. “It didn’t even come to $100.”

Dissatisfied, his captor then ordered Mr Black to drive to his home, where he had hoped he could collect more money.

Mr Black resisted, fearing for the safety of his wife and young daughter. It is understood that a fight broke out in the tinted-windowed truck on Cowpen Road, while Mr Black was still driving.

According to police, Mr Black deliberately bumped the car in front of him in order to attract attention to his life-threatening situation, jumped out of his truck and tried to escape. Mr Black was shot several times, the most critical shot hitting him in the neck during his escape attempt.

The owner of the damaged car, who wished to remain anonymous, said he pulled to the side of the road after his recently acquired vehicle was hit and called the ambulance.

“I had pulled to the side of the road, it (Mr Black’s truck) slammed into my car, the driver’s door opened, he (Mr Black) held onto the wheel, the other man shot him, then pushed him out of the truck, then jumped into the truck and drove off.” 

The witness said Mr Black had “all kinds of gunshot wounds in his neck” and “was crying to the neighbours for help”. He also said Mr Black repeated that he did not want to die and begged bystanders to tell his wife that he loved her.

The car owner said that if the ambulance, which had his “sister and her new born baby in the back”, had not arrived, Mr Black would have been dead. Even so he did not think that he would survive. He said Mr Black kept talking.

Another bystander told The Tribune that someone had wrapped a cloth around Mr Black’s neck to try to stop the bleeding until the ambulance arrived.

Mr Black’s father, Kingsley Black, in a message on Facebook said his son is in stable condition in Doctors Hospital.

“To cut a long story short: a heartless punk hijacked my son while he was sitting parked at Yamacraw Beach reading and eating his lunch around midday as he sometimes do, forced him at gunpoint to take money off his bank account via his ATM card, gun-butted him when he didn’t get as much as he expected, then tried to force him to drive to his home to wait for his family to get the rest,” the post read.

“Angelo decided that he was not going to take the robber home to place his family at risk so he rammed the car in front of him on Cowpen Road and jumped out of the truck. Maybe his actions saved his life because the robber shot him but the bullet entered and exited his neck, not damaging any vitals.

“He was thrown out of his own truck and the robber sped off. He is now in stable condition at Doctors. God is a good God. I do wish the police catch this cold-blooded criminal and put the jail on top of him. To intimidate my son he told him that he done kill one for the week as if to suggest that he could be next.

“This planet is too small for creatures like them and the rest of us; the world don’t have to stop but he can jump the hell off.”

The owner of the damaged car said he could not move his vehicle because it was a part of the crime scene. Talking on the telephone with a friend he asked her to tell his employers that he was so shaken that he would not “be able to come in”.

“I feel so bad for him, they tried to shoot him in his head. I can’t believe what I have just seen, I can’t stop my hand from shaking.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Stephen Dean, said police currently have no one in custody for the shooting. However, he said, police have significant leads.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-991 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS.

Investigations continue.