NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Just two days after his 36th birthday, Marco Meadows, a father of four, was gunned down while walking along Third Street just south of Palm Tree Avenue on New Year’s Day.
“This can’t be true,” is all Meadows’ girlfriend Gertrude Lesley could muster, as she fought back tears on the scene.
“Tell me no please,” she repeated.
The couple welcomed a new baby, just 11 days ago.
Meadows’ uncle, Gary Rolle, had to hold Lesley up as she wept.
“It’s very difficult on the family at this time,” Rolle told members of the media.
“You could never prepare for death. We just came out of church a few hours ago bringing in the New Year and it is very difficult.”
He revealed that the most difficult part of the incident is that this is the second person in that family to have been shot and killed, and just two streets apart.
Rolle remembered Meadows as quiet.
He said he served on the Royal Bahamas Police Force for nearly 15-years in the K-9 section and later went into the private field.
Police said they received reports of gunshots heard in the area and upon responding found Meadows dead.
“The only information we are working with thus far is that shortly before 9 p.m. the diseased was walking along Third Street when he was approached by persons who were driving a black colored vehicle,” said Chief Superintendent Solomon Cash.
“Both persons emerged from that vehicle and opened fire”.
Cash said police did not know the motive for the killing.
Asked about whether he is concerned about murders increasing in 2020 compared to previous years, Cash said: “This year just began, but there’s always a concern when we lose a life on the streets of New Providence or in The Bahamas, so the police will remain focus.
“We have our strategies in place and we will continue to move with our strategies. Hopefully we will prevent incidents like this from happening.”
There were 95 murders last year, according to Eyewitness News’ records.
In 2018, there were 91 murders, the lowest murder count since 85 was reported in 2009.
This represents a four percent increase in murders.
The murder count in 2018 represented a 26 percent decrease in murders compared to the 122 murders in 2017.
The commissioner is expected to release crime statistics for 2019 as well as his 2020 policing plan sometime this month.
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