Police identify Young man MURDERED in Five Cays Rascari Cox

Deandrea Hamilton, Wilkie Arthur and Dana Malcolm 

Editorial Staff

#TurksandCaicos, December 15, 2023 – He had just gotten home from work Tuesday night, told his mother he was going outside to feed the dog and that’s when it happened.  A bone-chilling hail of bullets hit the house and struck the woman’s son.  Now he is deceased, the 21st murder of the year, and while police have determined who the young man is, they are withholding that identity until his relatives are thoroughly notified.

The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, in a statement on Wednesday informs that it has launched a major investigation into the murder of a young man said to be an upstanding citizen of the Turks and Caicos, but family say they’ve already been let down.

The victim was gunned down on his doorstep near Sandbar Street in Five Cays on Tuesday, December 12th.

Residents shared videos with Magnetic Media of all the shots that pierced the home; damaging windows and shattering concrete.  According to family accounts, though the police were called swiftly, the man died and the killers, said to have been lying in wait, got away before any officers arrived.

It’s the second shooting within two weeks where bullets have been pumped into the occupied home of apparent targets; putting relatives in the Sand Bar area at risk.

Family members tell Magnetic Media that responding Police took far too long to turn up; however Police have informed they were at the crime scene in minutes.

In reply to Magnetic Media questions about any delay in responding to the shooting incident as articulated by the relatives of the man killed, the Royal TCI Police today (Friday December 15) issued this:

“The Command Centre of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force received an initial call of gunshots being heard near Sandbar Street, Five Cays area, at 11:34 pm.

Officers were dispatched at 11:36 pm and arrived on the scene at 11:41 pm.

Yesterday morning (December 14^th), Head of Crime, Safeguarding and Public Protection Superintendent Dean Holden met with the mother of Rascari Cox to extend condolences on behalf of the RTCIPF.  An update on the investigation status was also provided,” explained Denyse Renne, Public Relations Officer with the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police.

Too terrified to go outside out of fear of being shot, the relative explained having had to wait.

The young man is said to be a “stand-out employee, a national football player, also of outstanding character and a responsible son and a Christian.”

We learned that he was employed for years at Ocean Club.