#TurksandCaicos, September 4, 2022 – Sad to say TCI, but an all out turf ‘war’ has erupted between the Bight and Five Cays over the recent violent shootings where at least three have been murdered and three others caught in the hail of bullets.
On this blessed Sunday morning, Police have given no report on the overnight shootings and their grip (or not) on the situation but these attacks are described as targeted by authorities yet that fact is not stopping others being seriously hurt.
And it does little to heal the pain of now grieving families.
The reports reaching our newsroom expose Saturday was stained with accounts of rampant gunfire with dangerous weapons and it undoubtedly means the Royal TCI Police is in dire need of a prominent Drug & Fire Arms special unit.
Efforts in gun and illicit drugs have been reportedly beefed up but the level of gun violence, the prevalence of high-powered weapons being used near homes, schools and the tourism district coupled with the successful, and apparently unchecked illicit drug trade demand tactical attention NOW by an established branch of law enforcement.
Reporting on narcotics is virtually non existent for Trevor Botting’s team. And while there have been raids to flush out illegal migrants, Police Commissioner Botting gives virtually no statistics or has no such reaction to the flourishing drug hubs and gun lairs all around Provo.
More raids for guns and drugs.
Why not though, is the natural question especially given most crime is linked to this underground world seemingly allowed to blossom in these islands.
Reactive roadblocks were set up following reports of shooting activity all day Saturday and into the wee hours Sunday.
Now, this otherwise peaceful society is having to cope with the likes of that and dead bodies being buried as these feuding factions deliver vigilante-styled justice.
And we all know, with these murders always follows days, weeks even years of retaliation. It’s how innocents are caught in the crossfire and how we lost people like ANDRIEKA Stubbs-Saintelmon; a wife and mother gunned down in a reckless shooting as she exited the then Versace nightclub in March 2018. A wedding anniversary date gone tragically wrong.
We’re too small for this ongoing nonsense and our most precious treasures and resources are being sucked into a lifestyle unbecoming, feigning success but are literally and increasingly marked men, with an unnatural, invisible ticking bomb on their backs.
I say: Speed up intervention. Get more vocal about the efforts and strides there. We want a drug and guns special force, with a raised public profile of its work and we need parents and their village to kick down the doors on these nefarious dealings of our children and drag their butts out kicking and screaming, if we have to. It’s life or death.
But we must REJECT this lifestyle as success because their being pumped full of holes in their fancy clothes, designer shoes and expensive cars. Was that your plan when you were changing those diapers and paying school fees?
To those that are fighting. Keep going and get yourself some help. To those that are not, get on the frontline or begin planning your baby boy’s funeral. Because they’re being killed.
All their sweetness, love, smiles, potentials, gone, gone, gone.
And to you the elected government. Your silence says only one thing. You don’t care. And I do not believe that’s true.
Stop waiting for House of Assembly because these crimes aren’t. Speak out right away; when your constituents lose a loved one or when the community is assaulted by crime and fear. Let your voice be heard because unless you’re not human, you must have an opinion.
