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Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer

THE BOSS of the Juici Patties fast-food outlet that was at the centre of Saturday night's high drama in downtown Kingston has denied there was any hostage crisis, and suggested that the eatery was an opportunistic victim, not a target of planned heist.

The security breach by armed men had prompted police and military personnel bearing high-powered weapons to swoop down on the food outlet.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered near the restaurant as word of a hostage crisis caused a buzz, but that suspense ended with an anticlimactic fizzle as the robbers had escaped even before the cops cordoned off the area.

Laurence Heffes, managing director of the Juici Patties located at the intersection of West and Beckford streets, said workers had closed the shutters at the usual cut-off time of 5 p.m.

According to him, customers who were still at the service entrance were allowed extra time to finish their meals and eventually left.

He said shortly after 6 p.m., two of the remaining five staff members tasked with clean-up duties opened the shutters and went outside.

"One of them came back and didn't remember to lock the shutter. He went upstairs, and on his way coming down, he encountered two men who brandished a gun and held up the members of staff who were there, robbing them of cash and other belongings," Heffes said during a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.

He was unable to say how much money, in personal cash, the gunmen made off with, but noted that the robbers made no demand for the day's sales or anything else from the establishments.

"I was told that one of them said that they wanted things for back to school," Heffes disclosed.

According to him, the gunmen locked four staffers inside a bathroom and escaped.

"I got a call from one of them inside the building saying that they were held up, and that's when I called the police," he said.

Heffes said the quartet remained in the bathroom for nearly two hours: "After being in the bathroom for such a long time, I understand that one of them decided to crack the door open."

Upon realising that the men had already left, the four workers dashed out of the building and into the arms of law-enforcement personnel.

The police stormed the building shortly after but came up empty-handed.

nedburn.thaffe@gleanerjm.com