Suspect in Americans’ Caribbean yacht hijacking shot during arrest, 2 others found hiding: reports

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Prison escapee captured after alleged role in killing Americans during boat hijacking in Caribbean

Police officers captured one of the three suspects who allegedly threw two Americans overboard after the trio escaped a Grenadian prison. (Credit: Mikey Hutchinson/Facebook)

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One of the Caribbean prison escapees accused of hijacking a retired American couple’s yacht was shot during his arrest on the island of St. Vincent, and the other two hid in bushes, according to local reports.

Details were revealed during Monday’s court appearance, when the judge ordered the three suspects – Ron Mitchell, 30, Trevon Robertson, 19, and Abita Stanislaus, 25 – to be sent back to Grenada “as soon as practicable.”

Robertson was shot by police after he allegedly tried to grab an officer’s gun, according to Searchlight and other local outlets.

He denied those accusations, reportedly telling the judge, “I never wrestle with no officer. The officer throw me on the ground and just shoot me on me foot, you understand? I never wrestle with no police, you understand?”

BLOOD FOUND ON KIDNAPPED AMERICANS’ YACHT DURING CARIBBEAN PRISON ESCAPE: ‘PRESUMED DEAD’

Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel were thrown overboard during the alleged hijacking, Royal Grenada Police Force say. (Salty Dawg Sailing Association)

The Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, which made the arrest, did not respond to calls and emails from Fox News Digital for comment. 

The Royal Grenada Police Force said they are still investigating details of the incident and are waiting for the suspects’ arrival back on the island. 

BLOODIED SUSPECT IN MISSING AMERICANS’ CARIBBEAN YACHT HIJACKING TOSSED INTO TRUCK DURING ARREST, VIDEO SHOWS

The suspects were arrested in relation to the disappearance of the couple. (RSVG Police Force via Facebook )

The other two suspects were found hiding in bushes in Spring Village, according to a report by Searchlight, and were taken into custody without incident. 

The three men are accused of breaking out of a Grenada prison, commandeering a yacht owned by Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel – a retired couple from Virginia – and tossing them overboard as they fled to the island of St. Vincent, which is about 70 miles away.

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One of the men is seen in a video bloodied and in handcuffs while an officer throws him in the back of a police truck. 

The video was shared with Fox News Digital by Mike Hutchinson, a 15-year veteran journalist in Grenada, and the Royal Grenada Police Force confirmed the suspect seen in the footage is connected to the hijacked vessel.

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The prison escapees have not been charged with the American’s yacht hijacking or the couple’s presumed deaths. 

The yacht, which was found in tatters and stained with blood, was docked off Grand Anse Beach in Grenada, a popular tourist hot spot that the couple sailed to. 

A map pinpointing Grenada in the Caribbean where the couple are feared dead. (Google Maps)

Their bodies still have not been found, and jurisdictional issues are still being sorted, according to the Royal Grenada Police Force, which said it is unclear if crimes were committed in Grenadian waters or St. Vincent waters. 

All three suspects pleaded guilty to immigration-related charges in a court in St. Vincent and are expected to arrive in Grenada this week, according to police. 

Couple’s sons say their parents ‘lived a full life’

The Caribbean islands are tourist hot spots, with 221,000 visitors in 2022, according to Statista, and attract avid boaters like Brandel and Hendry.

The Virginian couple sold most of their possessions to live off their boat after they retired, their sons Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry said in previous interviews.

FRIENDS WHO SAILED WITH MISSING AMERICANS BEFORE YACHT HIJACKED ‘PRAY FOR MIRACLE’

“Ralph and Kathy lived a life that most of us can only dream of,” Buro and Bryan Hendry said in a heartfelt message released to news outlets last week.

They sailed off the eastern coast of the United States on their yacht – called “Simplicity” – and “made friends with everyone they encountered, singing, dancing and laughing with friends and family.”

Investigators from Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines stand aboard the yacht “Simplicity,” which they say was hijacked by three escaped prisoners with two people aboard, now anchored at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coastguard Service Calliaqua Base, in Calliaqua, St. Vincent, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Authorities in the eastern Caribbean said they were trying to locate two people believed to be U.S. citizens who were aboard the yacht that was hijacked by the three escaped prisoners from Grenada. (AP Photo/Kenton X. Chance)

“That’s who Ralph and Kathy were and that’s how they will be remembered in our hearts,” they said. “We live in a world that at times can be cruel, but it’s also a world of profound beauty, wonder, adventure, love, compassion, caring and faith. 

“Our parents encompassed all those values and so much more.”

Authorities do not have any updates on the internal probe into how the prisoners escaped or the criminal investigation.

However, Buro and Bryan Hendry’s message focused on their parents as these issues unravel. 

Ralph Hendry, 66, and his wife, Kathy Brandel, 71, are “presumed dead” after prisoner escapees allegedly kidnapped them while fleeing authorities on the Caribbean island of Grenada. (Nick Buro)

“So many people have reached out with love and encouragement, sharing stories and anecdotes of their memories of Ralph and Kathy, and those stories are what we want them to be remembered by,” they said. 

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“While the end of their life may have been dark, they brought light, and that light will never be extinguished from the hearts and minds of the people who knew, loved and cared so deeply about them.”

Fox News Digital’s Bonny Chu contributed to this report. 

Chris Eberhart is a crime and US news reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to chris.eberhart@fox.com or on Twitter @ChrisEberhart48.