By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
A 19-year-old man was shot multiple times and killed early yesterday morning, taking the country’s murder count for the year to 117, two shy of 2013’s total.
Officer in Charge of the Central Detective Unit, Superintendent Paul Rolle, said the victim, who The Tribune understands is Rico Smith, was on his way to work shortly before 7am when four men pulled alongside him off Carib Road in a Honda Accord.
Two men exited the vehicle and “began discharging shots in the direction of the victim”. He was shot multiple times in the chest. The suspects got back into the vehicle and left the area in an unknown direction.
Smith was rushed to hospital but died shortly after his arrival.
Residents in the area were angry that Smith was allegedly “left to die on the ground” because the ambulance took to long to respond.
One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Tribune she believed if the ambulance had arrived earlier, the victim would still be alive.
“He comes through here every morning, he is a very mannerly young man. He was just walking and then you heard a bunch of shots back to back like fireworks.
“Then I saw him and the ground and two men look like they jump a wall into a car and left. He was still breathing when the police and ambulance were called. His chest was moving up and down and he was making noises.
“But that ambulance took so long, like almost 30 minutes, and he was just laying there.
“We did not want to move him but we kept talking to him, we kept telling him he would be okay.
“We prayed with him but then it’s like we saw when the last breath left his body and by the time the ambulance came, we knew he was gone.”
This homicide comes two days after National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage skirted around questions regarding the government’s failure to control the scourge of crime in the country as it had heavily campaigned to do during the 2012 general election.
More than two years since taking office, Dr Nottage told Parliamentarians on Wednesday that the crime situation was the result of a flawed judicial system.
He said the government would direct its focus on tackling those challenges with the system in order to bring crime to a reasonable level.
On Thursday, findings from the United Nations’ and the World Health Organisation’s 2014 Global Status Report on Violence Prevention, listed the Bahamas eleventh out of 20 of the most homicidal countries in the world. It cited there were on average 32.1 murders in the Bahamas per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012 with 75 per cent of homicides caused by firearms.
Comments
John 10 years ago
As long as cold blooded heartless killers continue to go unpunished the murders will continue. As long as the murders continue the blood of the murdered will be on the hands of perry christie, bernard nottage, keith bell and all those that sit in suthority in this country. Judges who grant bail yo known killers are not excluded. Not to mention lawyers who manipulate the system to free murderers to wreak havoc in this country. Your judgement day is coming and it will be harsh.
ohdrap4 10 years ago
to cut down crime, ban the importation of honda accords
B_I_D___ 10 years ago
lol
paul_vincent_zecchino 10 years ago
Very good point, and really, if we think about it, if roads did not exist, these gangsters would not have been able to surround the victim and shoot him.
If we're not willing to immediately ban all roads and streets and bridges, then shouldn't we at least consider a waiting period and background check on all roads?
If it saves one life, isn't it worth it?
TruthHurts 9 years, 12 months ago
Cute!
ObserverOfChaos 10 years ago
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/ne…
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