The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter 

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are investigating a drive-by shooting that left one man dead and another one injured and in hospital.

According to reports, shortly after 4pm Monday, two men were sitting outside a business on Charles Saunders Highway and Buttonwood Street when two armed men, in a grey coloured car, opened fire in their direction, hitting them before fleeing the scene.

One man died at the scene while the other was taken to hospital and is listed in stable condition. 

Fifteen murders were recorded in September, according to The Tribune’s records, with this latest killing pushing the murder count to 78 for the year. In September 2018, police recorded five murders. 

Speaking to reporters outside Cabinet yesterday, National Security Minister  Marvin Dames didn’t express confidence that the country would meet his target of less than 85 murders this year, but he insisted there have been improvements in reducing crime. 

Mr Dames said: “I’m pleased that we’re moving in the right direction. It’s going to take some time to fix them and as you know in previous years, we would have been on a 100 or going over 100 (murders) so we are at a place where we are seeing some positive signs. We’ll continue to work on those. We still have a way to go in this country, but things are in fact improving.

“Our job is to police this entire country; our job is to govern this entire country. We are not going to look for excuses, we just have to look at how we can improve on things and how we can adjust. Governance, this is very dynamic (and) we did not expect this, but this is where we are. And so, as the government we must rise to the occasion and we are seeking to do that.”

Mr Dames said police officers have a lot of work to do but there are “a lot of positive things” coming with the Royal Bahamas Police Force and other connected agencies. 

“This is not only a police force fight and we must always be cognizant of that. As I continue to say, what we are seeing taking place in this country is the manifestation of our neglect over decades.” 

Earlier in the year, Mr Dames had his sights set on a murder count below 85 by the end of this year.

The minister’s goal, outlined outside Cabinet at the time, was more ambitious than the one in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit report that said the Minnis administration wants a murder reduction to 85 by 2021.

“This is a measurement as in any and all countries you set standards. I think it is that we would like to see the murder count at 85,” Mr Dames said previously.

“I contend that while we have that as a measurement and this is what any developed country will do, set measurements and standards for their agencies which is a good thing, I applaud the prime minister who actually was the one with the vision to bring about and to introduce the delivery unit to the Bahamas. It was first started I believe in the UK some years ago, which is absolutely important.”

He continued: “Our objective is to get those numbers as low as we can every year and I would like to see it below 85 by the end of this year. That is what I would like to see and that’s what the police would like to see.” 

The country closed 2018 with 91 reported murders. This was the first time since 2010, when 94 people were murdered, that fewer than 100 murders were recorded in a single year.