The Tribune

ASSISTANT Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson said officers are doing all they can to mitigate retaliation killings after rumours of gang wars started to spread around the island.

According to sources, the war began after alleged leader of the “Fire N Theft gang” Julian “Heads” Collie was gunned down in a hail of bullets nearly two weeks ago.

A day later, a 21-year-old man, suspected of being a member of rival gang “One Order”, was chased by two men and shot to death in Union Village off Wulff Road.

The latest alleged gang related death, occurred Sunday afternoon in Southern Heights, Nassau Village.

Police say the victim, who sources have identified as Lavado “Shorts” Miller, 29, was cleaning his Honda in his driveway when a man got out of a dark coloured vehicle that was parked across from his residence.

Miller was chased and shot several times before he fell and died between his residence and a neighbouring residence.

The Tribune understands Miller was a senior member in the “Fire N Theft” gang.

Sources close to the situation said a war is brewing and there is little the police can do to stop it.

“What do you expect, you have the alleged leader of one gang, ordering a hit on the alleged leader of another gang. Don’t you now think there would be retaliation? People in the streets don’t wait on the police. This will not end until the street ends it or everyone is dead,” the source said.

“Tensions are high and people are preparing for a war. Every week someone has died since ‘Heads’ got killed. It’s not going to slow down right now.”

ACP Ferguson told The Tribune the police are always on alert for cases of retaliation.

“We know retaliation is a possibility in certain cases where persons are killed and so we are mindful and alert to these situations. We are working on some information and I do not want to be premature in saying this but in some cases, like the last couple of homicides, we have had some concerns of retaliation and incidents where they were not able to resolve conflict, but I do not want to say it’s gang related without hard proof,” he said.

“We want the public to know we have several bits of information in respect to the last few homicides and we have good information as to who the culprits might be. We are also asking the public to work with us, we know there are people out there who know exactly what happened. They need to come forward and sit with us, talk with us and share that information. The public has the key, we have the information but we need them to help us.”

Anyone with information on any of these homicides is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS.