The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

A MAN died after he was shot while sitting on a porch of a home on Ragged Island Street yesterday afternoon, marking the sixth murder since Sunday.

After the killing, Deputy Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander warned lawbreakers to walk away from a life of crime to avoid facing prison or death.

He said police, through saturation patrols, were set on disrupting the escalation of murders through a newly launched crime strategy targeting hotspot areas.

Police said Wednesday’s victim appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s. He was sitting on a porch at Ragged Island Street when he was shot. After the suspect made his escape, he was pursued by officers in the area and led them on a high-speed chase onto Wulff Road. The chase ended on Andros Avenue where he was arrested after running into a residence. Officers also collected a firearm, DCP Fernander said.

He added that the suspect was known to police, who had been looking for him on a separate matter of alleged attempted murder.

“Shortly after 2pm this afternoon (yesterday) a young man was seated on a porch just through Ragged Island Street when a small grey vehicle pulled up. A lone gunman exited, approached the young man on the porch and fired several shots,” Deputy Commissioner Fernander said yesterday.

“He was hit to the body. He was later taken to hospital by private vehicle and we just got a call a short time ago that he succumbed as a result of the injuries. The gunman got back into that vehicle and drove off. Officers who were on the alert and, as we indicated this morning, this area here, the Grove area, is considered a hot spot and identified by the prime minister with respect to saturation patrols. That was one of the initiatives by the commissioner of police. This is a hot area and you can see that playing out this afternoon.”

He continued: “Officers (were) right in the immediate area (and) saw the vehicle speeding away. There was a chase onto Wulff Road and then ended up at the rear of this residence here right at the dead end. The individual exited and ran into this residence followed by officers where he was arrested and a firearm recovered.

“This is what the saturated patrols will do and that is a high initiative and as I indicated it was identified by the prime minister and he intends to just move it again to another level.

“Either you will catch the individuals in the act or you will catch them leaving the scene - the only two things that could happen. If you don’t move away from the life of crime either you will make prison or you will die. (That is the) only thing that could happen and we are pleading to the individuals, especially the young men who are out there involved in the life of crime, to please stop and stop now because the Bahamian people are fed up and they are supporting their police as we move to disrupt what is going on in our country today and we will do just that.

“You could see the senior command and this is what I am used to, action. This is what I use to and you could see the senior command as leading the charge in this fight and we will continue in this vein. The individual who was arrested we was looking for him for another matter for attempted murder. We was looking for him for the past month or so and you could see that he continued in his old ways and now he is in custody and you have the detectives who now is speaking with him at CID.”

Deputy Commissioner Fernander said he could not yet say if the victim was known to police and also denied reports that police fired shots as they sought to capture the suspect.

Asked if police were overwhelmed by the frequent occurrence of murders, the officer said police were not, adding: “This (is) what we live for.”

“You have officers who will go above and beyond. They don’t even want to go home, but we encourage them to go get your rest and that’s why after one shift you have another team,” he said.

This comes after two men were killed in separate incidents on Tuesday night and another man was killed in a shooting incident on Wednesday night.