The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

POLICE believe they have found the getaway vehicle used by the person responsible for the senseless daylight shooting that left two persons dead, including eight-year-old Eugene Woodside, according to Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean.

The silver coloured Nissan minivan, Senior ACP Dean said, was found early Wednesday morning in bushes on Boyd Road, near a cemetery. However, police still have no motive for the shooting and no suspects in custody.

The third grader along with another man sources identified as Dennis Moss were shot in Chippingham on Monday.

The brazen daytime attack in the densely populated area came after the gunman chased Moss, running between houses in the Rosebud Street area as he fired several shots, one of which penetrated a wooden structure, striking the child with a stray bullet.

Both victims were rushed to the Princess Margaret Hospital in critical condition where they died shortly after 6pm.

Their deaths mean the country has recorded 105 murders so far this year.

Senior ACP Dean made an impassioned plea to persons who are “hiding or shielding” these “cold killers” to turn them into police immediately.

“We cannot let this just be another day for us as a community, we need to together and find these killers - an innocent eight-year-old is dead. This is a very egregious act one that should never have happened,” Snr ACP Dean said.

“The thing is this little boy is an example of what we preach to our kids every day, he was doing his homework, studying, doing the right thing and he was killed, innocently shot. We are making a plea to these killers, have a conscience, turn yourself in, surrender. We are calling on all Bahamians, rather than being critical, come together, put politics to the side and let’s focus on our country because we are losing our young children. We cannot afford for this to keep happening. Do you know how much worse this could have been? There were children running about and these sick persons were indiscriminately shooting. We have to turn this killer in. This is a heavy appeal; the public has been very cooperative in the past. This killer is sleeping in someone’s home tonight, someone knows something, we cannot forget this.”

In an interview with the Tribune on Tuesday, Eugene’s mother Kendera Woodside described how she crawled on the floor as bullets penetrated her home, in a failed effort to shield her boy.

Mrs Woodside, who is currently seven months pregnant with her third child, said the pain she feels losing her only son is “indescribable” and “unimaginable”. She said her only peace comes from knowing she was able to tell him “I love you” one last time before he “closed his eyes for good”.

Eugene was shot once in the chest while practising his spelling words with his sister Monday afternoon.

Mrs Woodside, a hair stylist, described her son as a “quiet” but “loving and friendly” child. She said she still can’t believe that her son is gone and as she prepares to give birth to one child, she has to prepare to bury another.

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

Investigations continue.