By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
A POLICE sting operation quickly turned deadly yesterday when a shoot out resulted in officers killing a teenager at Yellow Elder Gardens.
According to Assistant Police Commissioner of Crime Anthony Ferguson, uniformed and plain clothed officers were at Graham Drive near A F Adderley Junior High School when they spotted two young men acting suspiciously. Both youths, Mr Ferguson told The Tribune were the subject of the police’s operation. The incident occurred at around 2pm.
As authorities approached the suspects, they both ran in separate directions, Mr Ferguson said. A chase on foot then took place. One of the teenagers, who The Tribune understands is 18-year-old Antonio Duncanson, then produced a handgun and shot at police, who returned gunfire.
Duncanson, who was wounded in the hail of bullets, was taken to the Princess Margaret Hospital where he died of his injuries, which a police source said were mostly in his chest and abdomen.
Police later arrested the second young man and confiscated a firearm from the scene of the incident.
Mr Ferguson appealed for the public’s assistance in getting illegal fire arms off the streets.
The victim’s family members, including his grandmother Theresa Duncanson, were heart broken as they spoke to the media moments after his death. Mrs Duncanson said Antonio grew up a sweet young man. However, she admitted that he had challenges as he got older and began to socialise with “bad company.”
“I took care of all five of them when their mother died,” she said. “I brought them up to be better than my own, but based on what happened today it didn’t turn out that way. His head was hard and he liked too much company.”
In August, police shot and killed a man at a birthday party after he is reported to have shot at them. However, the victim’s family said he was wrongly shot by police. He was identified as 33-year-old Garred Clarke.
According to police, officers were on routine patrol when they heard gun shots in the area of Allan Drive, off Carmichael Road.
Police responded and saw a young man among a group of people wielding a handgun.
Police said he then shot at them and a shoot-out followed.
During gun fire the victim was fatally shot by police, who then confiscated the handgun and ammunition he was carrying.
Comments
John 11 years ago
Seems like regardless of what the crime atmosphere, young men continue to lose their lives in this country or are still the victims of shootings or other violence. When crime is rampant, young men are killed are injured by each others bullets or weapons, and when there is crack-down on crime, young men are shot by police. This is not just occurring in New Providence but so far this year there have been police shootings in Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Abaco and Cat Island. Persons have also been shot in Andros and several other islands by other civilians. The question is what can be done to make the use of guns by the police and civilians less common. What is considered excessive force by police?
henny 11 years ago
As long as there are illegal guns on the street and in the hands of criminals you will no doubt have shootings/killing no matter where it is. Police are authorized to carry guns while on duty. When in pursuit of a suspected criminal, the suspect shoots at the police the police are right in every way to shoot back in defense of themselves. Sad to say some suspects will get shot or killed in the process, but if they didn't put themselves in that position it wouldn't happen. Even police get killed at times. Excessive force used by police should be any form of force that would jeopardize the life of the person. Seems to me much of that goes on when trying to get a suspect to confess. There should be cameras installed in all interrogation rooms and visible areas of police stations. I support the police and most are good cops. I also realize they have a very hazardous job to do. There are some bad apples in the bunch that use their authority to the limit and those are the ones that need to be gone. It's a very sad state the Bahamas is in today.
banker 11 years ago
The problem is that the young men carrying guns are not afraid to kill and not afraid to die. Many of them will openly tell you that they do not expect to live past the age of 30. They have been so value-programmed into the armed ghetto and drug culture, that they cannot imagine any other way of life. It is only the smart ones among them who will be able to rationally overcome the value programming that they have had, and become productive members of society.
These young men generally have mothers who are no more than 20 years older than them, and typically have not had a male in their household for the better part of their lives. The only male role model that they have had, is men visiting to get front from their mothers.
They are for the most part, unemployable and functionally illiterate, suitable for jobs at the low end of the service spectrum. There is no future for them. They do not have the tools to better themselves without a lot of remedial effort, and intrinsically, they know this. The cash to be made from the guns and drug culture allows them some personal self-respect in a society that will not give it to them in a more normal, socially-constructive manner. Death in a blaze of bullets gains them notoriety, and in a perverted way, adds significance to their lives.
Nothing will change as long as the Bahamas doesn't change, and like entropy in the Laws of Nature, it will only get worse. We have squandered at least three generations since independence and there is no way of getting them back.
John 11 years ago
I don't think that Bahamians have yet reached the point where they want to die in a hail of bullets and the age of 18, 19 or even 30 just to gain notoriety. Maybe they enjoy life and fame more as being a famous, gun toting criminal, but for many they do not expect death when it comes so suddenly. Secondly 20 is not a 'too young' age for marriage or child bearing. Years ago many Bahamian girls sought marriage at the age of 16 or as soon as finishing high school , because college was not an option and they did not want to become an old maid. Thirdly there are very few functionally illiterate persons in this country. Many may only be able to read at a fifth grade or sixth grade and they are employable. The problem is that the government needs to ensure that more jobs are created for the unskilled or 'trainable' level worker. But we have been duped into believing that if you are not a 3.0 student then you are a failure. Usually persons who are not book smart have other potential skills that can be developed and allow them to become productive citizens. This gun culture came with the 1980's drug era, it was enforced by the rap culture of the 1990's and the video games notoriety. Games that started out teaching kids to burst colorful bubbles, now they teach children how to kill citizens and police alike and to do car-jackings and robberies and every crime under the sun. The newest video game to come out made $850 million in the first day it was released. This game now targets preppy kids who (playing the game) can go to college and do crime at night, or hold high paying jobs, rent expensive villas but muscle cars and high powered weapons and kill innocent people. It's called channeling when persons start to behave the way the games teach them to. Unless we stop telling our young people that they are dumb and stupid and stop treating the like animals then the problem will grow. They are the ones under attack Then we have some 20 radio stations in this country and most of them are spewing out garbage 24/7 but they are what young people listen to. One of the most conservative newspapers in the country operates one of the slackest radio stations in the country. Slack in terms of broadcast content. What kind of message does that send to our young people?
John 11 years ago
The type of policing a country uses can also have an effect on crime, especially if it is used in ignorance. For example do you know the type of "PROFILING" that is used here against motorist and young people, especially was started in the United States and was used specifically against Black people? It started back in the 1960;s as a way of curtailing the freedoms including the movement of Black folk throughout the USA. Later drug possession became a crime weapon against Blacks where they were jailed for very small amounts of marijuana while their white counterparts received very light sentences for cocaine possession. The intent was to jail as many blacks as possible and burden them with criminal records so as to make them unemployable or noncompetitive in the job market. We, in our ignorance in the Bahamas, also began profiling young males, arresting them for small amounts of marijuana (Calling it Dangerous Drugs) and giving them heavy jail sentences. Sending them to live with hardened criminals. So they return to the streets, with a police record that says "DANGEROUS DRUG POSSESSION" and therefore cannot find a job or travel outside the Bahamas. So they turn to the tricks of the trade they learned in prison for a small amount of "DANGEROUS DRUGS". Today racial profiling is illegal in the United States and in most states, persons found with small amounts of marijuana is cited for a misdemeanor and is ticketed to pay a fine, not unlike a traffic ticket. Today we have older men who served time for small amounts of marijuana back in the 70s 80's and 1990's and are still walking around with police records that have the 'possession of dangerous drugs' on it that prevents them from travelling or even getting employment. And still today, despite it being outlawed in the US and despite its destructive effects, Profile Policing is used in the Bahamas. Where police stop young men in road blocks, remove them from their vehicles, search them, harass them and if they resist they are burdened with a list of charges . many false. This was a tactic used against black people at the height of RACISM in the United States. No one likes to be invaded in this fashion and at some point most will resist. The experience turns individuals off from the police and from society in general, especially starts to happen over and repeatedly. It should be STOPPED and OUTLAWED. Every innocent. law abiding citizen should have the right to the freedom of movement.
TheObjectiveVoice 11 years ago
I'm not a police but all I know is that if I was a police and suspect starts shooting at me, I have the right to return deadly force as well. You aint gonna kill me without a fight. If the suspects had hit the police, this would have been a different story. The police are specially trained and they have the authority to use tactical means to protect the community that they serve. I would rather them catch the fellas with their guns and ammunition at a road block, rather than catch them after they've gunned me or my loved one down after robbing me or breaking into my home etc. Take the guns off the street please and the criminals. That's their job. You can't fault them for that. Book 'em Dano!!!
concernedcitizen 11 years ago
Nobody ever discusses the true cause of our crime , babies having babies and a 70% illegitimacy rate . Then for discipline we beat the hell out of the children in anger teaching them that violence is an accepted form of conflict resolution . 80% of our sexual relations are transactional sex ,,ie sex for light bill ,sex for I phone ,sex for weave money ,..When a single mother has 5 kids for 3 different absentee fathers there is a good chance one will end up w/ a gun in their hand .It is totally absurd to make babies willy nilly and then cry out to government to produce jobs for them ..
banker 11 years ago
Actually at last count .. 2010 I believe, the illegitimacy rate was 75%. A sociological survey by a couple of NGO's showed that the 75% of Bahamian households were single parents (mothers only) with 2.89 children (I don't know how one gets 2.89, it must be an average) each of the children with a different biological father. The median age was less than 30 years old. Because of the baby boom, the Bahamian population by numbers is quite young. Younger people earn less than older people, and consequently poverty is rampant in the Bahamas and will increase with time. Our economic situation cannot absorb over 3,000 school leavers per year looking for jobs that don't exist.
concernedcitizen 11 years ago
@Banker i may be wrong but i thought we had 5000 kids leaving school every year ,and what about the kids that drop out early ..
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