The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama police are investigating a double homicide after a husband and wife were discovered dead inside their home on Sunday morning.

The victims - believed to be Barry and Sheila Johnson - were found shot dead shortly before 9am at an apartment complex in the Holmes Rock area. Police said both victims were shot once to the head.

The shooting has left the entire community, including the victims’ family, in a state of shock, according to a senior police official.

Police do not yet know the motive in this latest shooting incident, which pushed the island’s murder count to 12 this year.

The Tribune has learned that Mrs Johnson was a teacher at the Eight Mile Rock High School, and her husband was employed at the Freeport Container Port.

Distraught relatives and a crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene as police processed the area yesterday.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Emrick Seymour said officers discovered the lifeless body of the male, just outside the complex, with a gunshot to the front of the head.

On further investigations, he said, a female was discovered inside the residence with a gunshot to the back of the head. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor.

“I want to say it is a sad day in the life of this community, Grand Bahama, and in the life of the Bahamas where we have two persons whose lives were snuffed away in such a horrific manner. I am saddened, and we as an organisation are saddened by this senseless act, and we need to stop these incidences of violence wherever they are happening in this country,” said ACP Seymour.

Police have met with the victims’ family and are continuing their investigation into the matter.

ACP Seymour said police are in the initial stages of their investigations, and are trying to determine what may happened. “We met with some of the family members and they are distraught; the entire Holmes Rock community is in a state of shock because of the discovery we made here this morning. We don’t know the exact time this happened; we don’t have a motive for what happened; and we are trying to make some sense out of it.”

He revealed that one of the two vehicles belonging to Mr Johnson had been missing from the residence when police arrived, but was later recovered.

He is appealing to members of the public to assist the police in their investigations.

“When any incident of criminality happens in the Bahamas someone knows something about it, and I am certain that someone somewhere knows something about what took place here this morning. We are appealing to those persons to come forward.”

Anyone with information that can assist the police is asked to call them at 242-350-3107/12, 911/919 or contact your nearest police station.

The two murders pushed the country’s murder count to 105 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.