By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

A CROWDED fast-food outlet quickly descended into chaos when a group of teen boys burst in wielding cutlasses and knives in pursuit of another youngster on Friday night.

Senator Ranard Henfield (pictured in inset) was among the patrons at Lil Caesar’s on Carmichael Road and detailed a harrowing scene, as elderly customers were forced to scramble over each other to escape the fray.

A young boy was reportedly mercilessly chopped with a cutlass and had to jump over the counter to escape his assailant in what bystanders allege was a gang-related attack, he said.

Mr Henfield has withheld the name of the gang, telling The Tribune he did not want it printed.

“As I put my hand to (the) glass to look outside at the altercation,” Mr Henfield said, “the security guard opens the door for him to come inside, I guess to get away from what was going on. And the guy bursts in and then here comes a group of other fellas with cutlass and knives.

“People are falling all over themselves trying to get out of the way. His hands go up and you see him coming down into the person - jook, jook, jook - and I kept shouting to him to jump over the counter. They were still trying to get after him throwing rocks in the establishment. After a while they ran out.”

He continued: “They didn’t come there to rob. They came after this guy they were passing and saw him outside. This wasn’t a robbery. These guys seen somebody they were looking for. These were all little boys, these were kids.”

While he was shocked by the brazenness of the young boys, Mr Henfield said he was also deeply troubled by the delayed response to distress calls by emergency services to the incident.

The chaos reportedly took place around 7pm, but Mr Henfield said he was unable to get through to police on 911 and had to call the Carmichael Road Police Station directly around 7.20pm.

“How could you be calling 911 in a country for minutes and there is no answer? I had to call the station directly and they were able to send a patrol car,” the senator said. “The ambulance still hadn’t arrived by the time I gave my statement and left.”

Police did not initially include the incident in their daily crime report on Sunday, but released scant details about the attack yesterday afternoon.

Superintendent Shanta Knowles said police responded to a “disturbance” around 7.30pm on Friday at a pizza takeaway on Carmichael Road where it was reported a group of males were fighting.

According to police, one juvenile was taken to hospital where he was treated and discharged. An investigation is ongoing, police said.

Meanwhile, Mr Henfield said he was told by another young boy, who left the scene to get the victim’s father, that it was a gang-related attack.

The victim had reportedly walked into Lil Caesar’s with a rowdy group of boys, according to Mr Henfield, who said the boys’ ages appeared to range between 13 to 16-years-old.

He said the pizza spot was crowded, and the boys cursed loudly about the long lines before eventually settling on ordering.

The group went outside to wait for their order, and a short time later customers began to hear fighting outside.

“I spoke to (the victim’s) friend,” Mr Henfield said, “they knew the guys. He called the gang they ride with and how it all stemmed from. This little boy can’t be more than 10 years old and explaining this - what the hell are we doing to the psyche of the children of my country?

“I asked the boy to get the (victim’s) parents. He came back and said (victim) ain’t got no mommy, only his daddy, and his father had to walk. He’s an old man. When you see the look of terror on this old man face. The father could barely breathe, the fear in this man’s eyes. His eyes were wide open, he’s terrified, he’s coming to hear that his son is dead.”

Yesterday, Mr Henfield said the incident was personally disturbing because the pizza-run was a routine Friday night activity with his daughters. He said he left them home last Friday because they were sleeping, and reflected on how they were spared not only from physical harm but mental trauma.

“There were people with palpitations, one elderly lady could barely walk and staff member passed out. The psyche on our people, it’s horrible.

“My take away is we have to step up as a people. We can’t complain or read a story about what happened. We need to get involved at a community level. We have to return to the village concept.”

He continued: “When I was growing up, as terrible as we were, we knew we couldn’t walk past Ms Arthur house opposite Stephen Dillet, we couldn’t curse loudly outside our homes, we knew there was a community.

“I don’t see that community spirit anymore,” he said. “We are quicker to spread negative news than to come out and help.”

Noting social media posts blaming the government for crime, Mr Henfield challenged Friday’s incident was the direct consequence of a decline in community values.

“I grew up in the ghetto,” Mr Henfield continued, “it’s how we were raised, how we were socialised, the literacy, our affection came from gangs and boys – that’s not the government. This is a societal problem and our young men are out of order to run into a busy business establishment to stab and chop up somebody.

“Help parents, help kids pass courses in school and dream of their future. We as a people have a lot do to, the government can’t raise our children for us.

“Society can’t sit back and wait for government to fix this problem. I don’t see the government stabbing people up. We’re doing this.”