Stan Pistol, 51, and a resident of Cedars in Castries, was shot multiple times on Wednesday night at Kross Roads Mini Mart, his place of business. The fatal shooting only marked the final attack on Pistol, said his wife Grandalene. More than once he had been robbed at gunpoint. This time the robbers were not satisfied with robbing Pistol’s till; they also took his life.
“We’ve been targeted before,” Grandalene told the STAR. “Twice before last night they held him at gunpoint for money.” The incidents did not go unreported. Stan Pistol had gone to the cops “numerous times about the threats and attempted break-ins. All they ever said was the matters were being investigated.”
Her husband was not the only target. “They’ve tried to break into this place before,” Grandalene repeated. “They’ve come in on my staff. I had two young ladies working with me. They left because of the attacks; they were threatened at gunpoint for money. On numerous occasions reports were made and my staff had to leave. Who wants to work here when the place has been targeted so many times? “Everybody is scared. That is why my husband and I decided to run the place on our own.”
She said the robbers always wore masks but she cannot say if they did when they killed her husband. “I was not there. I haven’t spoken to anybody who’s seen anything. So I don’t know if they were masked or unmasked last night. I run another food court in the market while my husband ran the mini mart here at Cedars.” She recalled her worst nightmare: “I came home from the food court expecting to meet my husband to close up the store. I heard gunshots while I was still in my vehicle. I saw a young lady running up the road.
I rushed to the store to find my husband lying in a pool of blood—with gunshot wounds all over his body.” She said her husband’s murder has “left a void in my life and in our children’s lives.” Her message for his killers: “I hope it fills that void in you. What you’ve taken from me . . .” She could not complete her statement for her sobbing.
The Pistols had been married for 22 years. Stan Pistol left behind, other than his wife, a 16-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son.
