The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

A team of five masked gunmen left a teen and a man, dead on the doorstep of their Kemp Road home and four others injured at a holiday gathering, while on a spree of violence that ended after a police chase, gunfight, and Nassau Village car crash.

This, as well as a discovery of a body in bushes off Marshall Road in addition to two more shooting incidents and one stabbing, are currently under investigation by police after a crime-filled holiday weekend that brought the country’s murder count to an estimated 44 in five months.

Yesterday’s shooting incident occurred shortly after midday, just north of Pyfrom Road, at a home on Kemp Road.

One tearful eye-witness on the scene spoke of how the 28-year-old victim, identified by family members as Marty Knowles, pleaded for help after being shot multiple times after a group of five, masked men arrived outside his home.

Others spoke of how they fled into their homes after hearing multiple gunshots.

Sources identified the other victim as 17-year-old Frederick Telusma, whom residents surrounding the area knew as a high-school student who reportedly worked at a local grocery store.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson told the press at the scene, two armed men got out of a white Dodge Ram truck where they met the 28-year-old victim, outside his home. The culprits opened fire and shot him, multiple times.

The 17-year-old apparently came outside to see what was going on, Supt Ferguson said, and was also shot by the gunmen. The teen died at the scene while the 28-year-old died of his injuries at Princess Margaret Hospital.

“Those men (the gunmen) then got back into the truck and drove into Montgomery Avenue where they met persons having a holiday get-together, and those men fired upon those persons,” Supt Ferguson continued. “Four persons, we’re told, were injured at that location and transferred to PMH.

“This same vehicle again – officers intercepted this vehicle on Abundant Life Road. Officers pursued the vehicle, there was an exchange of gunfire by occupants of the vehicle, police returned fire, chased the vehicle into Nassau Village where it crashed on Taylor Street. One suspect was shot and four other persons escaped.”

Supt Ferguson said yesterday police were combing the area in an attempt to locate the four suspects who fled from the truck. The injured culprit was taken to hospital, where he is under police guard.

Sources say police took three men into custody in connection with the incident after a search of a Nassau Village home.

A high-powered weapon was recovered, Supt Ferguson confirmed.

A woman who did not want to be named but identified herself as a family member of Marty Knowles said she was out in her yard with her grandchildren when the truck pulled up and gunshots were fired.

“I heard about 40 gun shots,” she said. “My grandchildren were playing in the yard when the truck pulled up. I grabbed them and just pulled them inside. I was terrified.”

Another woman added: “The children were in the yard; they could have been killed. With the number of people in the yard, it could have been a lot worse.”

One family friend, who did not want to be named, said after the truck sped off, she saw the victims lying on the ground, bleeding, and called an ambulance.

“Marty spoke to me,” she said, through tears. “He said, ‘Please help me’. We were trying to help him; his pulse was getting weaker and weaker.”

Another resident, who again did not want to be identified, added: “These fellows bold. They don’t care about the community... They don’t know the damage they’re causing this country.”

She added: “Marty don’t bother people. He just stay in the yard.”

Also under investigation by police, around 2:30pm on Saturday, a passer-by discovered the body of a man in bushes off Marshall Road, past Munnings Estates.

There was a gunshot wound in the man’s upper body, police say, but details surrounding the incident are unknown.

On Sunday, two shooting incidents left two men in hospital in the early hours of the morning.

The first incident reportedly occurred around 3:30am, according to police.

The 22-year-old victim was walking through a track road off Fowler Street when he heard gunshots and realised he was shot in his lower body. He was taken to hospital by a private vehicle, where he is detained in stable condition.

In the second incident, the 19-year-old victim was walking on Fleming Street around 6am when he was attacked and subsequently shot by two men – one of whom he knew.

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

Two men, ages 20 and 23, are fighting for their lives in hospital after being stabbed multiple times about the body, shortly after midnight, yesterday.

The incident occurred at Arawak Cay, but circumstances surrounding the incident are unknown.

Police are investigating all the incidents and appeal to members of the public who may have information to contact police.

Speaking out over these latest incidents of violence, opposition leader Hubert Minnis called on the government to ask for help in the fight against crime.

“This just proves the government is completely paralysed by crime,” he said. “They mislead the Bahamian public by saying they had the solution to crime. They made it political. It’s a national problem.

“When the FNM was in, we were being blamed. They were putting signs all over New Providence showing increase in crime statistics – murder this and murder that.”

The FNM leader said the government “misled the Bahamian people” by claiming it had the solution to crime, just to win the general election.

“Now this is a time to admit they misled the Bahamian public and did it just to win an election,” Dr Minnis said. “They must now come and ask for help... and solve this problem before it completely destroys our quality of life, our livelihood.”

Dr Minnis said crime is something “we must all fight together” and should not be “made out to be political.”

Police are also investigating an early morning shooting that occurred last week, Friday.

The 27-year-old victim was at Sunset Park around 9:20am when he was approached and subsequently shot multiple times by the occupant of a silver coloured Honda. Police are investigating and asking members of the public, who might have information that could assist, to contact them.

Police are also reporting an armed robbery which occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Around 6:45am, a man reportedly armed with a handgun robbed a Gibbs Corner business of an undetermined amount of cash and tokens; officers of the Central Detective Unit arrested the man around 4:30pm at Resurrection Drive off East Street South, according to police reports.