The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A Royal Bahamas Defence Force officer is in custody following an armed robbery and shooting in the Carmichael Road area that saw an out-of-service government vehicle used as the getaway car.

RBDF Commodore Floyd Moxey confirmed the officer’s arrest in connection with the incident in which a female robbery victim was shot in the leg. It occurred shortly after 1pm on Friday, January 16. Surveillance footage of the robbery and shooting later circulated widely on social media.

The footage shows a woman exiting a black vehicle outside a business parking lot as a jeep with a red licence plate drives by slowly. The woman re-enters her vehicle, then parks and exits again. A man from the jeep approaches her and struggles in an apparent attempt to steal her bag. During the struggle, the assailant shoots the woman in the leg before fleeing with her bag.

Commodore Moxey said the officer had been on sick leave for two months at the time of the incident. He said the RBDF maintains a thorough vetting process to ensure recruits are qualified to serve, but acknowledged that, on occasion, individuals may fall through the cracks.

“Our marines are properly trained and properly disciplined,” Commodore Moxey said. “I continue to admonish them to stay on the straight and narrow and continue to make this organisation proud.”

Assistant Commissioner of Police Anton Rahming said police were alerted to the armed robbery in the Carmichael Road area and received information that a female victim had been shot in the leg. She was taken to hospital for treatment.

ACP Rahming said that during investigations, police received information leading them to the Cowpen Road area, where two men were taken into custody as suspects in the armed robbery — including the RBDF officer and another man. The officer is in his 20s.

The jeep used in the robbery carried a government vehicle licence plate. ACP Rahming said the plate is not in active circulation and appears to be an old plate, adding that it is possible it was stolen.

ACP Rahming also addressed a series of robberies reported over the weekend in New Providence targeting motorists and businesses.

“Those matters appear to be connected,” he said. “They seem to be concentrated in one general vicinity — the Eastern District.”

“We are looking at those matters, and certainly we should be able to bring those matters to a close very quickly,” he added.

At this time, no suspects are in custody in connection with the other robberies.