The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HOLIDAY weekend shootings left two men dead in the capital, one of whom was killed less than a month after he was released on bail.

At the scene of the first fatal shooting, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean suggested shooting deaths were a trend concerning persons out on bail or electronically monitored.

He criticised a “hell bent” criminal element that felt entitled to lawlessness.

Police have not released the identities of the deceased men; however The Tribune understands they are 21-year-old Terrence Rolle and 30-year-old Keno Hepburn.

Rolle was charged with the murder of Troy “Ghost” Clarke and was released on bail on July 17.

He was sitting in a parked car on Lily of the Valley Corner, off East Street when he and another passenger were fired on by two men in a charcoal gray coloured Honda sometime around 2.45pm Saturday.

The gunmen reportedly drove up to the parked car, rolled the windows down and opened fire on the occupants of the vehicle.

Rolle received multiple gunshots to his torso, according to police, and died at the scene. The other victim was taken to hospital by Emergency Medical Services.

On Saturday, Senior ACP Dean said: “We can tell you that we have similar instances to this, the record has been plain, persons who are released (on bail) don’t want to abide by their conditions and so sometimes this is the end result. But from the police’s perspective, that doesn’t bar us from doing our duties which is prevention, detection of crime, to arrest these offenders who continue to commit crime.

“We’ll continue to do that, that’s why we have ramped up our strategies. We have increased patrols, police officers were in the nearby area, and were able to respond to the scene quickly.”

The second fatal shooting occurred outside a Cowpen Road nightclub shortly after 1.30am on Monday, Emancipation Day.

According to police, Hepburn was involved in an argument with several other men before he was shot outside the club. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police also reported that officers are searching for two suspects responsible for a shooting and armed robbery that left a man in hospital on Sunday. Police were told that shortly before 4pm, two men were doing a transaction over the sale of a vehicle off Frank Watson Highway, when two men armed with handguns emerged from nearby bushes and robbed one of them of a large amount of cash, and shot the other man before fleeing on foot.

The injured man was taken to hospital where he is detained in stable condition.

On Saturday, while speaking generally about the state of crime, Senior ACP Dean appealed for the continued support of the public in the anti-crime fight, and gave assurances of increased saturation patrols during the holiday period.

“There are some individuals who are hell bent on committing crimes, immaterial they believe that they have this right to commit crime without being tracked down by the law,” he said. “They have no respect for law and order, no respect for the communities they live in, no respect for the citizens. So, it’s obvious that they don’t need to be in these communities. We have to bring them to justice and get them into prison where they belong.”

He added: “We want to reassure the Bahamian public because this is the beginning of the holiday period, the public was saying this is the beginning, wonder if this is a trend. We want to say to Bahamian people who are going to the beach, you can go to the beach. You going to the Family Island, you can do so. You having family functions, you can do so.

“The police are out in full force, we have pulled out everybody from our senior command right down to the constable on the ground. They are out in full force. You know that we have a number of things going on, beach picnics out at Arawak Cay, Montagu and then we have the major festival in Fox Hill which is being heavily policed.”

Referring to the weekend drug and weapons seizures, Senior ACP Dean said: “You can go to the Fox Hill festival. We are having many successes on the street. You’re going to see more aggressive and comprehensive successes.

“Officers are out and about,” he added, “if one time you need to support your police, it’s right now. This is all you have now, we are the guardians of the community.”

Anyone with information on these killings is asked to call police at 919, 502-9991 or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 328-TIPS.