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Six murders in four days
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Two men murdered in separate shootings last night
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — A teenage girl, who is believed to be 16, was shot dead and her younger brother injured during a shooting in The Farm in Treasure Cay, Abaco, yesterday.
According to police, the girl was shot in the head while the boy was shot in his side.
He was in serious condition in hospital at last report.
The incident took place around 1pm.
The identity of the victim was not released, but Eyewitness News understands the victim is Jilly Fleur, a recent graduate of SC Bootle High.
The motive for the shooting was unclear, though authorities believe the incident could be domestic violence.
A male suspect was arrested in Murphy Town a short time later following a high-speed chase with police on the highway.
Police said the suspect was known to the victim.
Assistant Superintendent Terecita Pinder said officers recovered a .9mm Smith and Wesson pistol with ammunition from the suspect upon searching him.
When contacted, North and Central Abaco Island Administrator Terrece Bootle-Laing said while violent incidents were sparse on Abaco, this was the second woman killed on the island in the last month and believed to be a domestic incident.
“This represents another incident involving a young female in Abaco so near to the incident that we are still reeling over,” she told Eyewitness News.
On December 26, Angeleta Pritchard was found dead in a residence in Crown Haven, Abaco.
According to police, Pritchard had an altercation with a man earlier that day before being found dead with injuries to her face.
A man was arrested in connection with the murder.
On Sunday’s murder, Bootle-Laing said: “So, it’s is a sad, tragic situation and it is not something that happens commonly in Abaco, so it has devastated the communities and those who have any thought of or link or connection or knowledge of her or her family.
“Many of the children in that community — The Farm, it is known as — attend school in North Abaco, which would be for the most, many of them attend SC Bootle High School.
“And so, they are quite connected to children or persons within the community of North Abaco because SC Bootle is the only high school in the north.
“And the school consists of students from all of the settlements here in the north, so they are quite familiar with each other.
“It is a family there, so even the younger brother who would have also been shot, we’re praying for his recovery because he would have attended Treasure Cay Primary School and would have served as one of their student prefects.
“So, it has hit the community hard.”
The double shooting marked the fourth murder for 2021 and the sixth murder in four days.
Two men were shot and killed in separate incidents on New Providence on Sunday.
According to police, a man was found in a vehicle in Whites Addition with gunshot injuries around 10pm.
In a separate incident shortly after 8pm, officers responding to reports of a shooting at the intersection of Willow Street and Sapodilla Boulevard, found the body of a man in a van with gunshot wounds.
Police made their usual appeal for anyone with information to contact them.
On New Year’s Day, an educator at Stapledon School was shot dead and discovered in a classroom on the campus.
The day before, two men were shot and died in hospital in separate incidents.
Two gunmen approached a man sitting outside his Wilson Track home around 8pm and shot him.
Around the same time, a man was shot on Rupert Dean Lane.
Addressing police officers at their annual church service on Sunday, Minister of National Security Marvin Dames revealed that murders were down 22 percent in 2020 compared to the year prior — 95 in 2019 compared to 74, the lowest on record in the last 15 years.
