Police on hunt for local gunman
Jonathan Welcome
(CNS): The police are asking the public to help them find Jonathan Welcome (22) from Bodden Town after he reportedly pulled a gun on officers in the early hours of Sunday morning in George Town. In a brief release, the RCIPS said that armed officers on patrol near McField Square at around 1:30am yesterday, 17 April, were confronted by Welcome, who was said to be armed, though police did not describe the weapon. In response, one officer took out his own firearm and commanded Welcome to drop the gun he was carrying several times.
The RCIPS said the officer exercised “extraordinary restraint” because of concerns for public safety as a crowd was gathered nearby. While pointing the gun at the officers, Welcome fled into the densely populated area of Rock Hole, where he was able to elude capture.
Known to police for previous gun-related offences, Welcome was handed a six year jail term in October 2011 when he was just 17 years old. He and Jordon Powell, who was 18 at the time, were charged with an armed heist at Blackbeard’s in Grand Harbour, which was foiled by the intervention of Charles Ebanks and Edward Azan, who confronted the teenagers after they left the store, despite the fact that they were armed with a loaded shotgun.
The weapons turned out to be inoperable, however, and the boys avoided a ten year mandatory term when they were charged with robbery and possession of an imitation weapon.
Police have released a picture of Welcome, who is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached. If anyone sees him or knows of his whereabouts, they are asked to call GTPS on 949-4222 or Crime Stoppers at 800-8477(TIPS).
Too many Wild Wild West movies. These movies were supposed meant to entertain us not encourage us to act out the scenes.
Sad to say this is the normal way of life in Cayman. This young man pointed a gun at the police yet some people hail him as a local hero and we wonder why crime has increased? With little to no education this will eventually get worse with time. Judging by the uneducated blogs responses from toxic people that should be helping the Rcip but would rather troll positive feedback is a big turn off. Don’t have the time to deal with fools. #Education =less mental slavery !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nah today bobo
if in the USA or JA he would have had 50 rounds pumped into him…but we are in Cayman and I believe our armed officers are highly skilled and not as trigger happy…
CNS: I note with bitter disappointment that you have failed to mention or acknowledge the bravery of Ray McGuire, a Canadian national, who was also involved as one of the intervention team that arrested this coward at Grand Harbour.
The shame of this is that Ray was rolled over and forced to leave whilst this piece of crap was allowed the freedom to commit more crime.
All three men acted without concern for their individual safety and demonstrated the very best of character, not knowing at the time whether the firearm was faulty or an imitation. They are all to be applauded equally, but shamefully one was told to go. You must be so proud.
Cayman kind!
honduras
They could have just shot him in the foot or leg… isn’t that how it normally goes everywhere else in the world? He was obviously guilty of doing something for him to feel the need to pull a gun out on the cops. I suppose I can see where they didn’t want to have a gun fight in a large crowd, but like other mentioned – he’s still out on the run, capable of causing a lot more damage than he could have on Wednesday night.
Why would not a mobile phone company send messages to all users in cases like this one, just like Amber alert in States?
Any other Country in the world and he would have been killed or badly hurt and facing a lifetime of charges behind bars. Whilst those brave officers kept their cool with a gun pointed at them it could have turned very ugly had the gunman decided to fire on them. That’s why they shouldn’t take chances. In other countries when a firearm is pulled and “pointed” on officers they take it as a direct threat and end up firing in defense. Our Islands are changing fast and the Police need to understand that this is a new breed of criminal on our streets.
Bored! Who cares. Crime is on rise and cops are inept and nothing will change and things will get worse. He will get away with this as many others who commit crime here do.End of. This is Cayman now and will be for the foreseeable future. Suck it up people, Cayman is going to #@%& !
While I’m a regular critic of RCIPS’ failure to curb crime, I’m also open-minded enough to praise them when they get it right, and have done so. In this case, I’m torn between praising them for extreme restraint and bravery and criticizing them for not shooting the damn criminal!
He is a convicted armed robber who should still be in prison and who (by law) should not be in possession of a firearm. Now he’s pointing a gun at an armed police officer, who was actually able to draw before the criminal fired. Sad to say but if I were that Police Officer I would have blown him away and sent a message to others like him that’s what they can expect.
CNS – as a news agency can you look into the existence (or not) of RCIPS’ Rules of Engagement policy as a general curiosity. Clearly in this case some rules were applied, even if they don’t exist as a formal policy. Hope RCIPS gets another chance at this creep, some mother’s child or not!!
Welcome to the new Cayman
What no one seems to note is, why haven’t the relatives of this aspiring( I am being sarcastic) gangster turned him in to the Police? What is the relatives justification for this? This could be considered as “aiding and abetting” and any relative that has contributed to his continued hiding should be also charged by the Police.
By his actions, this “gunman”, has shown no regards for the law and it is only a matter of time before he is inclined to turn the gun on other citizens, possibly including his own relative, if he has not done so before.
We, the resident of these Islands (I use the term deliberately, as safety and security is not a local or expat issue only. We all live here and are all affected by all actions of lawlessness, whether directly or indirectly) need to stop being a spectator (blaming Police for all their shortcomings) and start becoming more active in the protection of our society by assisting the Police.(not all the Police officers are incompetent and our justice system is not totally ineffective as proven by the numbers at Northward)
Any lack of collaboration with the Police will only help foster more lawlessness and lead to a rise in criminal activity which puts the whole Cayman society at risk.
Action or inaction, the choice and consequences are ours own. So make the choice Cayman.
Yes dear shadow we all can’t live in the Blissful Utopia you currently occupy the part you deliberately omit is that so many innocent citizens have been victimized by the system so many times they have developed a type of blindness or in ability to see a difference between law enforcement and criminals that they suffer a serious case of indifference and close mouth syndrome. Who exactly should we hold responsible or accountable but those who are paid very well and gave a solemn oath to uphold the law. i hope i shed some light on your opinionated point Shadow and some advice stop hiring criminals from corrupt jurisdictions to enforce the laws of these islands.
The usual excuse. Somehow the armed criminals and their associates are victims of oppression so they can do what they like.
Agree with you 100%. Hope I don’t have any dealings with the poor people that pushed the dislike button
This is the first time in cayman police history that this has happened. Perfect example of a changing society and downward decline. The next time that young man won’t run he will open fire on them. Pay attention Cayman government !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lord help them.
Well passionate you have now prove without a doubt that you ain’t no Caymanian as i suspected all along an imposter. Now try hush wid ya foolishness nah man. He ain’t the first you just obviously ain’t been here long enough to know better.
Intelligent Cayman please refrain from your negative comments and pray for our islands crime and educational issues which obviously have a common link. Use your energy from some thing positive!!!!!!!!! #inbredfool
I guess you can see how popular your idea of praying for the island is
“The first time in Cayman history…..” what were you smoking, and when did you wake up from your long sleep? LOL.
Absolutely no Europeans or Canadians were involved.
But they’re doing a pretty good job of white collar crime here, 8:00!!
Thanks, I only have to do 10 per cent of “Webb/Watson” investment plan and I will be more than happy.
I am so proud of our RCIPS officers if this had happendd anywhere else in the world we have been reading about the death of this young mam.
Brave and professional police officers.
Sorry 7:58pm, thats right, he pointed a firearm at the police, he robbed a liquor store with a firearm, sooner or later he will shoot someone, then we will be reading innocent person killed by young man who was charged numerous times for a firearm. I would have thought nothing of it if the police shot him after he pointed a loaded gun at them. Maybe if they shot him, these thugs on this Island would think twice about pulling guns on other people. Where I understand why the police officer didn’t shoot for fear of hurting or killing an innocent bystander, I don’t think to many tears would have been shed if there were no innocent bystanders and the police did shoot at him. Anyone pulls a gun at me and points it and if i have the opportunity to shoot, HELL YEA!!!! Better reading about the criminal dead than an innocent person.
And we wouldn’t be reading about the next time he pulled a gun after serving a sentence, unlike last time. Lad didn’t learn from he last time around, obviously. Think the sentiment would go down a little better if you had said ” we wouldn’t be reading about innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire”
Use a gun with any criminal intent then you must get an automatic life sentence. No exceptions.
Why IS he not in jail serving his six years???
Is everyone sure he is not deportable?
well since certain politicians claiming to be Jamaican and some people even say Caymanians all come from Jamaica, send him there. Personally I like to highlight ancestors from Europe and slaves who may have come from Africa through Jamaica, USA, or other West Indian islands.
expats were not involved
How are you so sure that Welcome is a Caymanian?
Name a small clue, surely
No. A number of Welcomes were granted status in the Cabinet Status Grants (for example).
And so they became Caymanian, right. Anyhoo if Welcome is 22 now he would have been 1o at the time and if not born here at least the child of a status holder. So the deportation point is BS.
Except he would have lost his status on his 18th birthday and would have had to apply for continuation.. Problem is that by then he had held up anliquor store at gunpoint so continuation ought to have been impossible. He would therefore NOT be a Caymanian today.
Whoever thumbed down that comment, please let us know how you know Welcome is a Caymanian. Was he born in Cayman to Caymanian parents? Did he become Caymanian as a young child? Did he apply for continuation of status before 18? Which is it?
Names and populist perceptions are not what makes someone a Caymanian.
Once again for the uneducated, the term ‘Caymanian’ is descriptive of somebody, anybody who comes from the Cayman Islands. It is NOT a nationality, your nationality is ‘British Citizen’.
I know it’s very complicated for some to get their pea sized brains around the concept, but it is true.
So in answer to you blind assertion, it makes no difference where he originated from, he remains a Caymanian. Its only your xenophobic and ignorant racism that draws a distinction, not the reality.
But hey, it’s Cayman, we shouldn’t expect anything else.
So tired of telling these peas brains! Damn fool fool bout ” Caymanian ”
After the next election it will be worse! Did u Caymanians know what the one man one vote entails ???
Just wait! I will see if the Jamaicans who got status will be blamed for this mess unna done get unna self in
Caymanian is defined in the Immigration Law in terms that mean that being born here by itself means nothing. Is Welcome legally a Caymanian? It is a fair question that should elicit a yes/no answer.
Total unmitigated BS. There are thousands of Caymanians who are not British Citizens and are not even eligible for a Cayman passport.
Yes, they’re called residents and they are almost certainly ‘foreign nationals’ with a passport of their own. So what’s your point?
A Caymanian isn’t a national identity so anyone who lives here long term can claim to be one. And by the way, the ‘Cayman’ passport is in fact a British Overseas Territory Passport and clearly says on its cover, ‘British Citizen Cayman Islands’, so if you don’t qualify for a passport you obviously can’t be a British citizen, (unless you already hold a UK passport). Ergo, as it is illegal to be rendered stateless, who exactly are you and why don’t you have a passport?
Back at ya!
People with BOTC passports have no inherent right to live here unless they were born here to parents who were settled at the time of their birth. To be settled they must have PR or Caymanian status. To be Caymanian you must have Cayman Status. Does Welcome have Cayman Status? If he does not he is not Caymanian. He would not however be stateless. He would take the nationality of his parents at the time of his birth.
Total BS, you don’t need parents born here to be a Caymanian, hold status or PR, or to hold a BOT passport.
If he doesn’t have status, why wasn’t he removed from Cayman after his last crime, or doesn’t that fit your non sensical argument?
To be Caymanian does not depend on any national status, you just need to ‘come from’ the Cayman Islands as Caymanian is not a designated or acknowledged nationality. On the receipt of naturalisation and status you then become a British citizen.
Basically it doesn’t matter what his nationality is, he is a piece of crap, period.
And if you think that there is any difference between Caymanian crap and any other crap, then you are more of an idiot than first thought.
Idiot, if the passport says British Citizen Cayman Islands, of course they have the right to call themselves Caymanian and have an unchallenged right to be here.
I am no idiot. I would suggest you read both the Immigration Law and The British Nationality Act before commenting further.
Clearly you are as no one can be considered a British citizen on these islands without holding or having entitlement to a BOT passport/Cayman Islands. So if you are not entitled to the said documentation, you can’t be a British Citizen Cayman Islands.
It is clearly BS to claim that thousands are Caymanian yet can’t claim a BOT passport, because once you pass naturalisation and status regulations or are established generational Caymanians, it is your right as a British Citizen of the Cayman Islands to hold such, even if you already hold a UK passport, (yep, stupid but true).
Oh yes, just because you marry a Caymanian, as a foreign citizen it doesn’t give you an automatic right to status and the said passport. However, you can call yourself what you like.
And in your case, consider idiot.
We should hunt him down at night with flaming torches just so a DNA test can be done. Once we have proved that he is not Caymanian, then whatever he did that was illegal can be dealt with.
Trust me, no one on this island would want to see the results of a DNA test.
And that loudmouth “genius” from the Brac who keeps calling Sterling Dwayne’s show was bellyaching yet again today about the fact that we don’t separate prisoners at Northward for statistical reasons into “indigenous Caymanians” and “paper Caymanians” (his words) to “show where the criminality lies”. Every other jurisdiction that he knows of does it, he claimed. Despite the legal absurdity of the exercise of separating “Caymanians”, I wish someone would call these “geniuses’s” bluff and print the figures. Those of us who work in the prison, full time or part time, know the truth as do those who read the Cause Lists every week published online where you see the same old Caymanian names and families committing crimes over generations and beginning when they were young schoolkids. Why is it impossible for Caymanians to accept the truth about their own weaknesses?
It would be sooooo nice and soooooo rude for the radio personalities to follow up on callers idiotic statements and defamatory remarks.
Being civil is not always the best thing for society.
That seems to be a human condition, not just a “Caymanian” condition.
Where do you read the cause list?
https://www.judicial.ky/courts/cause-lists
It’s online at the Judiciary website.
Go to the Judicial Dept website and you should find it, 8:41. It lists all the cases in all the courts for the upcoming week.
From Pirates we decended …
You ignore the fact that paper Caymanians can have their status revoked if they commit a serious crime. You also ignore the fact that a number of persons in Northward who are treated as being Caymanian may in fact not be.
Just because a weapon is inoperable, it doesn’t mean it is an immigration firearm. If a Rolex doesn’t work, it isn’t an imitation. If the transmission on a Ferrari is faulty, it isn’t an imitation. Cayman and their ass backward judicial system let another loser gangster wannabe onto the streets early and now he is pulling guns on cops. Good work you idiots.
If one puts LIVE ammunition in a firearm that just happens to be inoperable, there should be NO QUESTION that the person using that firearm had INTENT to use deadly force against those who would seek to thwart whatever crime that person sought to commit.
The intent was to commit murder if necessary.
Live ammunition can be used to kill without a funtioning firearm, however a firearm without ammunition is mainly for intimidation.
10 years for the gun and 20 years for the live ammunition plus 6 lashes for each round!
Bring back the ‘Cat’ and let us put the fear of GOD back into these heartless criminals!!
Go back to Pakistan.
Do you have to be driftwood to be charged with using an ‘immigration’ firearm?
imitation, not immigration…..
Autocorrect. Calm down grammar nazi.
Whose grandma nasty?
I didn’t know immigration were armed.
I guess they are hence the immigration firearms
You are so correct. In fact, if you remove a part from that same ‘imitation’ firearm it becomes a firearm. Each part is a firearm by law. Research the Penal Code. It says ‘…or any component part thereof..’ It takes a lawyer to come up with such flawed reasoning to claim that the inoperable firearm used with clear intent is merely an imitation firearm.