By RICARDO WELLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
rwells@tribunemedia.net
ONE man is dead and two are in hospital following a triple shooting at a Malcolm Road nightclub early Friday morning.
The homicide marked the fourth this week, and ninth for the month of December.
According to reports, shortly after 2am, police responded to a nightclub on Malcolm Road off East Street, after receiving reports of shots being fired.
Police said an argument on the outside of the “5-Star” Nightclub had escalated, resulting in the three men being shot.
The injured men were transported to hospital, where one of them succumbed to his injuries.
The other two men are listed in serious, but stable condition.
This latest homicide comes on the heels of Wednesday’s “be careful with the company you keep,” warning by Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson.
Commissioner Ferguson at the time insisted that despite recent flurry of criminal activity, residents should go out and have fun this Christmas season because they will not be targeted.
He reiterated this call during a walkabout on downtown Bay Street yesterday.
“These murders are not gang violence, “ he said.
“These are incidents where you find persons who have . . . conflict that cannot be resolved and not in a gang related issue. They are really isolated cases.”
When asked whether he believed the country was “relatively safe”, Commissioner Ferguson replied: “I don’t need to believe that, I know the Bahamas is relatively safe. I am a well traveled person and those of us who are well traveled and recognise what goes on around the world, the Bahamas is relatively a safe place to be.
He added: “The issue of whether there is a fear or any crime is a real issue, and there are things we will continue to work at. There are things the citizens have to also work at.”
Overall, police continue to assert that general crime statistics are trending down.
Statistics shared on Wednesday showed there were 89 murders from January 1 to December 18, a decrease from last year’s 122 murders in the same time period, according to police.
Armed robbery incidents declined 16 percent, from 547 to 460 during the same time period while reports of stolen vehicles declined 20 percent, from 450 to 361.
The number of shootings also declined, from 110 to 67, a difference of 39 percent.
The only major crime category that saw increase in reported incidents were rape, seeing an increase of 12 percent.
Comments
Sickened 5 years, 4 months ago
It's very weird that everyone who has conflict resolution issues just happens to have a gun on them. Back in the day only criminals and gangs had guns. Now it seems everyone who thinks that someday they may get in an argument, has already gone to the trouble of buying an illegal handgun and carries it around with them for that one argument.
Sickened 5 years, 4 months ago
I actually felt safer thinking that we just had gang fools running around shooting each other. Now, reading into what the police said above, I need to worry about anyone who argues - because all of the people in these 'isolated cases' are packing heat!
sheeprunner12 5 years, 4 months ago
Who in the hell in Nassau is trying to meet the triple digit murder quota??? This is really distressing.
tell_it_like_it_is 5 years, 4 months ago
This is exactly why things can't change!
"The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." If you can't even admit we have a crime problem and that citizens DON'T feel safe, how can we ever improve?
Putting our heads in the sand and saying "well other countries have it worse" doesn't solve anything. I don't live in other countries, I live in NASSAU!
I DON'T feel safe in Nassau.
DDK 5 years, 4 months ago
P.M. quiet now.......
TigerB 5 years, 4 months ago
let's hope this don't carry over in 2019... it was kinda quiet for most of the year, but all hell is breaking loose now in the doubles and now triples...
sheeprunner12 5 years, 4 months ago
You have nothing to worry about ....... you safe, far away from this "shithole"
sheeprunner12 5 years, 4 months ago
I say this respectfully, in 1995 me and my family left Nassau because of the 3 C's, the crime, the cars, and the crowd. 23 years later, it was a good move. Nassau will get no better, we sing the same song and dance every year, blame the police, blame the politician, get our houses all barred up, but I promise you nothing will change
That's your words in another Tribune story, TigerB ................ SMH
John 5 years, 4 months ago
The age old question is who is smuggling guns into this country and selling them to criminals? The question is why isn’t more being done to intercept these weapons before they hit the streets are are used in the commission of a crime? There are hundreds of licensed firearms in this country and barely a one is used for criminal activity. Yet persons can produce high powered weapons to commit murder any hour of the day or night. So maybe it’s time to identify, reveal and prosecute gun traffickers.
rawbahamian 5 years, 4 months ago
The illegal gun trade is being manned by the same people who supply the inmates with their phones and other goodies, or the people who find 1,000lbs of illegal drugs but only 23lbs can be accounted for on trial day or the civil servants who are living a champagne life off of a vitamalt.salary !!! Think people, think !!! This is not Rocket Science !!! Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder can plainly see what's going on !!! 🙄
sheeprunner12 5 years, 4 months ago
It is high time to audit the financial records of every frigging civil servant ...... how can a group of workers who all make less than $70,000 a year live like millionaires and have assets in the millions???? ....... where is all of this "savings" coming from??????? ....... based on the cost of living in this country, this can only mean ONE thing.
Then the corporation workers should all be investigated as well ...... But if the politicians are seen as enriching themselves in Office ..... SMH
bogart 5 years, 4 months ago
TRUE ILLEGAL GUNS ARE A SIGNIFICANT ILLEGAL ISSUE.......BUT......IF THERE WAS NO GUNS....CRIMINALS WOULD USE KNIVES TO JOOK...AN IF NO KNIVES.....DET WOULD USE CONCH SHELL......THE ISSUE OF CRIME HAS SEEMS TO BE ......COVERED ..... BLANKETED OVER....SUPPRESSED... WID MORE POLICE...POLICE CARS....SPY BILL....CRIME WATCHIN....REHABILITATION........IMPORTANT YES..........BUT .....REALLY NEEDS TO GO TO THE ROOT.....ROOT....ROOT.....poverty...deprivation....politics..unfairness to pore people.....blatant wastages by govt help services not getting.to pore....mismanagement tax revenues...overruns ...regressive taxation hurting pore....drugs....unemployment.....peer pressure....unfairness ...cronyism...corruption....family problems.....laws.....inefficiencies in govt............. ..CRIME CAN BE REDUCED SIGNIFICANTLY .....INSTEAD OF DIS CHARADE BEEN GOIN ON FOR DECADES....on needin more police cars....more policeman...spy bill..cameras...blaminghardworking Police unnecerrily.....less illegal guns..mere deterrants.......an authorities showing ups most always .....after... the crime.... providing horrible headlines.....distractions.......from dealing wid da root of the problems facing the pore sufferin people of dis sovereign nation ....year after year .....after year.....lection.after...lection...after lection
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