Unconscionable gun violence ends Inter-High school sports season early

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, November 23, 2022 – The unbridled violence in The Turks and Caicos has robbed students of the enjoyment of sport this season with the announcement from the TCI Sports Commission that it is postponing the basketball and softball season following a November 19th gun attack which unfolded in broad daylight, near the Gustarvus Lightbourne Sports Complex.

The statement read: “While police rushed to assure residents that no child had been hurt when news of the attack broke, that was more due to luck rather than any special caution from the shooters. Reports indicate that shots rang out near the bleachers where dozens of students and supporters were engaged in a softball match. Those bullets were courtesy of a nearby scuffle on a premises close to the gym between gunmen which saw one person killed and three others injured.”

While the basketballers inside the gym were locked down preventing entry the softballers on the outside were left exposed. After the brazen shooting, during which two of the injured people tried to escape by running onto the sports premises, there was panic and for officials, the ruthless crime wave got just a little bit too close for comfort.

No injuries of children or fans were reported; a welcomed status update during the active investigation scene on Saturday by Trevor Botting, TCI Police Commissioner.  Botting said his officers and Sports Commission staff ensured students were safely collected by parents and out of harm’s way, but the deadly shooting ended sporting activities for the inter-high school clubs on the hardwood and on the field.

The Sports Commission has now decided the risk to students is too great and is pulling the plug, for now, on the softball and basketball contests.