Two victims of a shooting by masked gunmen say they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Vernon “Pouper” Goodluck and Chreston Cuffy were shot early Friday morning (about 12.55) when two masked men burst into Lindan’s Bar and Restaurant owned by Linda Lewis and located on the Fountain/Villa road. {{more}}

Up to press time, both men were still patients at the Male Surgical Ward of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital in Kingstown. Cuffy is nursing seven gunshot wounds, four on his left foot, two on his right foot and one on his left arm, while Goodluck was expected to go into surgery yesterday to remove one of the bullets still lodged in his right leg. Another bullet passed through the same leg.

Cuffy said he frequents the bar, where he sometimes looks at movies. He said one man stood outside while another came inside and said, “Gee me the money.” After Cuffy said that he did not have any money, he was shot while the other patrons in the shop scampered to safety. It was while Pouper Goodluck was making his escape that he received the gunshots to his leg.

Goodluck said he too frequents the bar. He said he was drinking and viewing a movie when he saw a man with a mask enter the shop and demand money.

“When Cuffy say he ain’t have no money, the man shoot he and then I run and I get shot two times in my foot,” related Goodluck, who said that he continued to run, jumped over a wall and hid in some bushes.

“It was very painful,” said Goodluck, who described himself as a friendly guy who loves to joke a lot. However, Goodluck sees this incident as “no joking matter”. Police are still investigating, but up to press time no one had been detained in relation to the incident.

Yoland Richards, the daughter of the proprietor, said she was upstairs the bar (at home) when she heard the shots. She said she looked outside and saw two men run in the direction of Villa.

Richards, however, said that she is very disturbed at the way in which the police treated the incident. She said the police arrived about an hour after the shooting and took the men to hospital. She said she was shocked and surprised at the police because they never came back to the scene until her stepfather went to the station and reminded them that shells were still lying on the ground in the bar.

“The police real lapsing,” said Richards, “I surprise that my step-father had to go to call them to come back on the scene after 11 [a.m.] and the thing happen since minutes to one the night,” she said.

Richards said two of her brothers went to the Narcotics Division at Arnos Vale but were turned away by the officers on duty.