Armed robbery at Margaritaville

By Norma Connolly, norma@cfp.ky

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Two armed men held up Margaritaville shortly after it opened on Friday morning.

The robbers, one armed with a gun and the other with a knife, made their way to the office on the upper floor and ordered the female accountant at gunpoint to hand over cash.

Police cars outside Margaritaville following Friday morning’s armed robbery.

The amount of money the robbers made off with in the 8.20am hold up is unknown. The men escaped through a back door that leads on to Cardinall Avenue.

Two people, the accountant and a manager, were in the office at the time. The manager was ordered to lie on the floor and was told that if he moved, he would be shot.

No–one was hurt in the robbery.

A staff member, who works in the Margaritaville shop, said one of the men entered through the ground floor shop and had asked her if the upstairs bar was open because he wanted a cup of coffee.

“I asked the bar–tender if the bar was open yet, but it wasn’t, so I told the man that he could get coffee at Cafe Del Sol,” she said.

However, the man made his way upstairs and was joined by the second man who is believed to have gained access to the building through another entrance.

The robbery took only a few minutes, according to another member of staff, who works in Margaritaville’s downstairs store.

“One minute this guy was looking for coffee and a few minutes later the police were here,” she said.

She said there very few staff were on the premises when the robbery occurred because it was so early.

The Caymanian Compass is not identifying the witnesses in order to protect them for retaliation.

The adjacent Island Plaza shopping centre was closed for about half an hour with police tape cordoning off the entrances while police searched the premises. Customers were asked to leave the stores in the shopping centre while police searched the vicinity.

Police questioned staff of the store and bar throughout the morning.

The employee described the suspects as being in their early twenties, clean shaven, one approximately 5’ 6’’ and the other slightly shorter, both had dark complexions.

One was wearing three–quarter length jeans and a light coloured vest top. The other wore long baggy jeans and a white and grey polo shirt.