The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A RESIDENT of the Bain and Grants Town constituency yesterday described having to move out of the area in fear of an ongoing “turf war” that has resulted in a relentless wave of shootings by various factions of the inner-city community.

Kenvin Burrows, a father of five, told The Tribune that he and his family have vacated their former home on Hay Street to take up residence on nearby Meeting Street to evade the seemingly endless wave of gunfire, which he claimed has steadily worsened since he moved to New Providence from Inagua last July.

Dr Bernard Nottage, the minister of national security, is the member of Parliament for Bain and Grants Town.

Valentino “Scrooge” Brown, a former gang leader turned community activist who resides on nearby Lewis Street, suggested that the recent shootings are the result of a “turf war” being waged between “different factions” of the Bain and Grant’s Town community.

That “turf war”, Mr Brown suggested, was likely the cause of the recent shooting of two men on Woods Alley, as well as a reported shootout between police and an armed suspect on Tuesday morning near Mason’s Addition.

In an interview with The Tribune at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, Mr Burrows told this newspaper how he, upon initially moving to New Providence last year, was led to believe that the Bain and Grants Town constituency was a “place that I felt was relaxed”.

“But after I started seeing the shooting and the violence, it started to get to me, because I’m married, I have five kids, and I started to feel uncomfortable,” he said. “And I sat down and I told my wife it’s getting a little too harsh now. I feel unsafe, me being a stranger in the community.”

For Mr Burrows though, the breaking point occurred following a shootout between an armed suspect and police on Tuesday morning in the Mason’s Addition area.

On that day, police received a report of gunshots being fired in the area of Spence Street. When the officers arrived in the area, the armed suspect reportedly confronted them and began firing at them.

The officers returned fire and the suspect fled on foot. Police then formed a perimeter in the area and eventually arrested the suspect. A short while later police received a report that a man turned up at the hospital suffering from a gunshot wound and reported that the suspect had shot him earlier in the Mason’s Addition area.

Mr Burrows told The Tribune that on that day, he was about to meet up with his boss, art historian and economist Ulrich Voges on Lewis Street, when he heard the gunshots.

“I didn’t even go in that direction,” he told The Tribune. “I went in the opposite direction and I went up by (Mr Voges) and I sat down and I told him I feel like it’s enough, I need to move.”

Mr Voges ultimately granted Mr Burrows’ request by renting a place on Meeting Street for him and his family to reside, which is owned by Orchid Burnside of Doongalik Studios Art Gallery.

Mr Brown, meanwhile, said while the worsening crime problem does give him grave concerns, he is resolved to staying in the area and being an advocate for peace.

“(Mr Burrows) has a family, I also have a family,” he told The Tribune. “But overall, the community is my family. Most of these young men who are toting these firearms, I know their parents, if they’re still living. So I feel I can reach them like I normally do. It’s just that circumstances at the moment take them into a different direction.”

However, Mr Brown was especially saddened by Sunday’s shooting, claiming that the two victims were “innocent young men who weren’t gang affiliated in any way”, but were targeted because of the ongoing “turf war”.

“You’re seeing a decay in the respect for law and order, you’re seeing a decay in respect of human life, you’re seeing a decay where the young persons, male or female, don’t care if (people) live or die in this country today,” he said. “It’s just a cycle where we have young guys who grow up hard in the community, and without (proper) education, without proper income, without proper leadership, without proper community development, there’s no chance in the world our country is ever going to be better. No chance at the current state we’re at now.”

In December, Prime Minister Perry Christie promised that the government would introduce “tougher measures” to combat crime this year. Mr Christie said reducing crime is “a challenge of the highest priority.” He said the government is determined to “wrestle it to the ground in the New Year”.

There have been two murders so far this year, according to The Tribune’s records. Last year saw a record 149 murders, surpassing the 127 murders recorded in 2011 under the former Ingraham administration.