Suspects appeared before judge of instruction on Wednesday.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The three men who got injured during the May 30, 2016 shooting at the Westin Dawn Beach Resort parking, at approximately 10:00am are all suspects in the ongoing investigation called Mahi Mahi. They are being suspected of involvement in the shooting and money laundering. The latter suspicion has to do with a large sum of money that had been found in one of the cars and has been confiscated.
Two of the suspects K.L. (45) and J.A. (43), both from St. Maarten have been released from the hospital and are currently detained at the Pointe Blanche Prison. Today the two men were led in front of the judge of instruction who deemed their detention lawful.
The third suspect L.W. (37), also from St. Maarten, has been flown out to the Dominican Republic for medical treatment due to the injuries he sustained during the shooting. He is still in a critical condition.
Furthermore the Prosecutor’s Office cannot comment at this point in time on any other detail regarding the ongoing investigation.
Prosecutor's Office Press Statement
SMN News understands the two suspects are Karim Lake and Joseph Ambroise. It should be noted that Joseph was born on the island of Dominica and not St. Maarten as released by the prosecution. Seemingly the prosecutor's office have the name of the second suspect completly mixed up as SMN News learnt that the suspect's name is Ambroise Joseph who was born in Dominca and not St.Maarten as indicated by the prosecutor's office in their press release. Even the age of the suspects ages that were released by the prosecution are incorrect.
The third suspect that is in critical condition is Levi Webster a former convict who was convicted in 2009 for an armed robbery where a person lost his life. Two of the three suspects are employees of Checkmate Security.
Detectives took Westin Shooting Suspects from SMMC to Court House in hospital robe.
The two suspects that were involved in the shooting incident on Sunday at the Westin Resort was taken out of the St. Maarten Medical Center on Wednesday and taken directly to the Court of First Instance, Karim Lake underwent surgery around midday on Tuesday and he was taken to court in his hospital robe,while the other suspect Ambroise Joseph had on normal clothing.
Eyewitnesses say that the suspects were taken from SMMC around 10:30am and taken directly to the Court of First Instance. SMN News further understands Lake suspect went into surgery around midday on Tuesday and less than 24 hours after the surgery he was taken out of the hospital and directly in front of a judge and he was not even given enough time to properly dress.
SMN News understands that relatives of one of the suspects protested because the suspect/victim only underwent surgery on Tuesday since he was shot in the neck area and somewhere under the chest. According to information provided to SMN News the attorney that is representing Lake was not properly informed of the hearing that was scheduled for Wednesday morning, however, that information could not be confirmed since the attorney could not be reached on Wednesday night.
SMN News will follow up on the events of Wednesday hearing with the attorney on Thursday for further details on the procedures.
CORRECTION
Regarding the June 1, 2016 press release concerning the Mahi Mahi investigation relating to the May 29, 2016 shooting at the Westin Dawn Beach Resort parking the Prosecutor’s Office would like to make the following corrections:
- The suspect with the initials J.A. should be A.J.
- The suspect with the initials K.L is 33 years old and not 45 years old as stated in the June 1, 2016 press release
