Passengers relate frightening encounter on CanJet 918
(Jamaica Observer) MONTEGO BAY, St James – Passengers freed from CanJet flight 918 on Monday said hijacker Stephen Fray had a glazed look in his eyes as he held a gun to the head of at least two people, demanded money and to be taken first to the USA, then to another destination.
His eyes looked glossy. His pupil was tiny,” Wayne Murray of Halifax, Nova Scotia, told the Observer. “He said if we give him money we could get out and he held a gun at my head. We gave him the money and put up our hands in the air. Sometime later we were allowed to leave the aircraft. The crew was told to stay on board.”
Murray said he gave Fray, who appeared to him to be about six feet tall and wearing a grey T-shirt and a dark pants, Can$30.
Murray, who was travelling with his wife Mina, said that although the ordeal frightened him, he was able to keep his cool.
The passengers spoke to the Observer en route to the Sangster Airport for a flight home hours after Fray, a 21-year-old Montegonian armed with a five-shooter .38 revolver, barged through security check points and commandeered the aircraft late Sunday night.
“We did not see the gun when he came on the plane,” said Murray. “I was in seat 4a at the front beside my wife in 4b. There was another couple coming in behind him (Fray).”
Another passenger, Mireille Pelletier, related how Fray held the gun to the head of a flight attendant.
“When I saw the guy with the gun at the flight attendant’s head I felt like crying and I said ‘oh my God’, but she never panicked,” said Pelletier.
“Nobody panicked in the aeroplane. Somebody told us don’t panic and then she (flight attendant) opened the door and the guy asked us for money. We gave him all the money we had.
“At first he said that he wanted to go to the USA, then he said he wanted to go to somewhere else, I don’t know where,” added Pelletier, who was travelling with her husband, Guy who, along with other passengers, confirmed that Fray fired one shot outside the plane and demanded to be flown out of Jamaica.
The passengers said it was the flight attendants who negotiated their early release by asking them to heed Fray’s demand for money.
Daryl Vaz, who has responsibility for information, told the Observer that after Fray was captured by Jamaica Defence Force soldiers he was found with Can$8,500 and US$500.