GUNMEN ambushed and killed a 32-year-old Abaco man near a Dundas Town nightclub early yesterday, reigniting residents’ demands for the business to be shut down after months of complaints about noise, safety and its location in the middle of a residential community.
Smithy Belfort was shot in the lower abdomen after entering his Honda near Bootle’s Drive and preparing to reverse, police said.
He reportedly crashed into bushes near Forest Drive, where officers later found him.A second man, 20, was also injured.
Police said he was leaving the Forum Bar and Lounge when he heard gunshots and later realised he had been shot in the shoulder.
The shooting has rattled residents and intensified pressure on authorities to act against the nightclub, which residents say has been the subject of petitions and objection letters from local government officials.
Residents claim the business was shut down in May but reopened earlier this month, to their frustration.Forum Bar and Lounge owner Kadeem Martin denied that the shooting was connected to his business, saying the victim had left the area and was ambushed farther up the hill.
“From what I understand, from the footage that I've seen, it was up the hill from the bar,” he said. “We were already closing and somebody who left, one of the patrons, he was walking his vehicle up the hill, I think, when he got in his vehicle.
"He had persons waiting on him in the bush so they ambushed him but it had nothing to do with my bar.”Mr Martin said the incident was not the result of drunkenness or an altercation at the bar.
Faron Newbold, chief councillor for Central Abaco’s District Council, said residents are fearful and disappointed because they “feel there is no sort of protection” as police allegedly refuse to respond to their calls about the bar.
He said the council has long opposed the business and appealed to the Attorney General’s Office before it was granted a licence.“It’s smack down in the middle of residences,” he said, while calling for the police commissioner to investigate the matter.
“There are residents in the back, front and side. It don’t even meet the liquor license requirement. All of this was inspected by Ministry of Works, the police and environmental health and gave it a clearance knowing the location. It was disappointing.”
Melissa Hardy, a longtime resident who lives directly across from the nightclub, said she called police repeatedly before the shooting and believes officers should have responded sooner.
“I called the police minutes before the gunshots,” she said. “I called the police five times last night and they refused to come. The sixth time I called the police around 1.28, when I told them if they had come when they was supposed to come, they wouldn’t have to pick up nobody’s dead body.”
She said the community has endured persistent noise disturbances and loud, profane music from the nightclub, making it difficult for residents to sleep.She said the night of the shooting was chaotic, adding that she heard about 16 gunshots and could not sleep afterward.
Some neighbours said they ducked for cover after hearing the gunshots, with one resident reportedly falling while trying to escape the danger.
Mr Martin acknowledged complaints about the bar, but said only a few residents have raised concerns.“I’m not from Abaco so I have a lot of trouble from these people,” he said.
“They're saying that I'm coming here to cause a problem, and I'm not. It's only two residents and they’ve been causing the issues.”
The killing was Abaco’s first murder for the year and the country’s 34th, according to this newspaper’s records.
A person close to Belfort’s family said his death has devastated his siblings, who live abroad.
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