After her daughter was stopped at an airport in the Turks and Caicos Islands for carrying a gun, the mother of a woman from Florida asked for help.
Since February, five Americans have been arrested and held in TCI after being caught with guns in an airport. They are Ryan Watson from Oklahoma, Tyler Wenrich from Virginia, Bryan Hagerich from Pennsylvania, and Michael Lee Evans from Texas.
Grier’s mother, Willie Lucas, said it broke her heart to leave her daughter on the island and go back to their home in Florida.
The boy said, “I didn’t want to come home.”
Lucas said that she hoped her daughter would be safe and asked people to pray for her family.
“Be careful when you leave town. Keep yourself safe. “Be careful, and please pray for us, because we’ll need it,” Lucas said.
The niece of Grier, Chanchy Willis, said that the found weapons were “just a terrible mistake.”
“Only for two bullets?” “All five of them made a terrible mistake,” Willis said.
After making bail, Grier moved in with four other Americans in a rental house on the island while they waited for the future to become clear.
The five people could each get up to 12 years in jail.
“Watching the others and how they are close-knit, and reaching out to her, showing her that she’s not alone, they are all in this together, that brings joy to my heart,” said Willis.
Before, Watson, Hagerich, and Wenrich’s father talked to Fox News Digital about how they were arrested because of unintentional weapons found in their bags.
Three men have said that TCI airport security found stray bullets in their bags while they were on their way home from holidays.
The three men also said they didn’t mean to bring ammunition to the islands, but they did forget it in their bags from previous shooting trips.
“Our plans were never to bring anything into this country. “All we cared about bringing were board shorts and flip-flops,” Watson told Fox News Digital in the past. “So… we never thought to look into any of these things.” And many people in the area have been such a gift and have such kind hearts.”
The people being held must argue in front of the TCI Superior Court that they were arrested under “exceptional circumstances.” This means they have to show that they have never been in trouble with the law before, that they did not plan to bring weapons into the airport, and that a 12-year sentence would be too harsh in their cases.
Grier is due to go in front of a judge on July 5.
