National Security minister calls on the village to “raise people who will make their jobs easier”
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — SCREAMS rang out through a side street off Kemp Road as police began investigations into a shooting attack on a family parked in a car that saw a father killed and his teen daughter seriously injured last night.
At the scene last night, National Security minister Wayne Munroe pleaded with young men involved in criminal activity to abandon their “career choice” and take advantage of opportunities in the pipeline.
“If this is what your career choice is, it makes no sense, it leads nowhere,” he said.
“if you look at the statistics your life expectancy is not very long. I am encouraging you, I am begging you to stop this nonsense.”
According to Assistant Superintendent Audley Peters, three people were sitting in a silver car outside a business establishment on Apache Alley when a lone gunman approached the car and opened fire.
Peters said police were alerted via ShotSpotter shortly before 9pm.
He said the occupants were two adults in their mid to late 30s, whom he described as father and mother, and a teenaged minor.
The father was sitting in the driver’s seat and died at the scene, according to Peters, who said the mother was unharmed.
The teen girl was sitting in the rear passenger seat and suffered injuries to her abdomen.
Her condition at the hospital is unknown up to press time.
Peters said he could not confirm whether the family had been followed to that location based on initial investigations. He was asked whether the motive for the killing could be gang-related or an armed robbery.
“We can’t say that at the moment being officials,” he said.
“But we understand that there is a language on the street and there is an official language, but we will follow every lead that is available to us to come to some conclusion with this matter.”
Peters pleaded with the public to report anyone in possession of an illegal firearm to the police or a trusted proxy.
“The homicides are causing a lot of grief, pain, and suffering,” Peters said.
“Personal costs and social costs to each individual in the community.”
Munroe, the area MP, said he recalled meeting the deceased while campaigning in the area for the recent general elections.
He said he canvassed the particular area twice and met the victim both times but could not say that he knew him intimately.
“I recall him as being respectful,” he said.
“I recall him as not being overly aggressive as some people are during that time.”
At the scene last night, Munroe said he has not forgotten his campaign promises to bolster community projects and entrepreneurship in the three weeks since elected to office.
He reiterated his charge to Bahamian society concerning its role in anti-crime efforts.
The national security minister underscored the role of police in the latest killing is to investigate and apprehend the culprits, while his ministerial role was to ensure law enforcement was fully resourced.
“The job of us, the society, the community is to engage and try to work out why persons are doing this,” Munroe said
“To try and play more of an active role in preventing persons from doing this.”
He added: “Our job as the community, as the village must be to seek to raise people who make their job easier by not becoming a part of the system.”
