Man in early 20s shot dead in Grove “hot spot” last night
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Prime Minister Philip Davis yesterday led a multi-agency conclave to address the recent spike in murders just hours before another man was gunned down in the Grove.
The area has become a high concern for law enforcement with three reported shooting incidents this month, leaving four dead and two in hospital.
The latest shooting took place on Palm Tree Avenue off Baillou Hill Road sometime around 9pm.
In a statement, Davis said he convened the urgent conclave in a bid to tackle the surge in crime.
“Today I convened an urgent conclave with high level stakeholders to address the sharp increase in murders,” Davis said in a statement.
“While much of it is clearly gang related it is also clear that a range of other factors are contributing to this spike. There are no easy quick fixes to the crime dilemma neither is there any one solution. However we were able to identify immediate measures that will help to reduce levels of crime.”
Davis continued: “I will have more to say on this issue in the coming days but I want to express a heartfelt thank you to the various agencies who participated. These include The Royal Bahamas Police Force, The Royal Bahamas Defence Force, The Department of Public Prosecutions, The Bahamas Crisis Center, The Hope Center, the Official Opposition, The Bahamas Christian Council, members of my government and Cabinet. All sectors of society have a role to play in this partnership and going forward we invite the public to be a part.”
The Official Opposition has released its crime recommendations, calling for increased surveillance and the deployment of regional partners for undercover operations among other strategies.
At the Palm Tree Avenue incident last night, police found a man believed to be in his early 20s, slumped over the driver’s seat in a silver Nissan Passo in front of Legil Car Sales off Baillou Hill Road.
According to Police Press Liaison Superintendent Audley Peters, officers are on high alert and have beefed up patrols in the area but missed the incident.
“It is a concern to us, and we have persons in place who are patrolling the areas. It’s just simply that our presence was not at this location to either deter or to cause this incident not to happen,” Peters said.
“It appears that this incident would have started from one scene and ended up at this location, and that is much as we have so far with respect to this incident.
There have been 17 reported homicides in March, which officers have suggested could be the direct result of gang violence and retaliation killings.
The incident last night brought the country’s murder count to 33 for the year.
Peters said police have changed their approach to fighting crime in response to trends, using measures officers consider both covert and overt.
“What we’re doing is allocating our manpower to meet whatever the challenge is in particular areas. We placed a mobile vehicle in the community of Thompson Lane; if necessary, we may have to do that in other areas,” he continued.
“We’ve beefed up the patrols in a zoned area that we consider to be a hotspot…in the recent days you’ll see it jumping from one area to another area and so we’ve added additional manpower from either the Flying Squad or the Mobile Patrol Unit as well as another unit we have in place that I won’t mention at this time.”
Police are appealing to members of the public to assist in any way that they can by walking into their nearest police stations or by calling the Criminal Investigations Department at 502-9991 or 2.
