Murder #61

Murder stands at 61 as of Tuesday May 27th 2015

LEVITA Thurston said she will never forget the blank look in her daughter’s eyes as she lay dead and cold in her arms after being shot in the head in front of their home.

#Georgette Rahming, 21, became the country’s 61st murder victim this year – and the third in three days in the capital – after she was shot late on Tuesday night off Baillou Hill Road.

#According to police, shortly after 11pm, Ms Rahming was standing on the porch of her home on Palmetto Avenue, when she became involved in an argument with a man who shot her in the face and fled the scene.

#However, Mrs Thurston told The Tribune that her daughter was sitting outside using her cell phone when “someone snuck into the yard and shot her”.

#Outside her home yesterday, the distraught mother said her daughter was threatened on Sunday but decided not to report the incident to police “out of fear for her life.” It is a decision Mrs Thurston said she would regret forever.

#“She died in my hands,” Mrs Thurston said, fighting back tears. “She came running to me in the house. She was sitting in a chair outside. They came in the yard when people were inside and she was sitting on her phone – she didn’t see it coming. I heard the shots, she ran inside and she dropped.

#“No one knows how it feels to have a child leave like that, to die in your arms. I lay on the side of my child like I was breast feeding her all over again and she was gushing blood out her mouth and her nose. She took her last breath and she was gone.

#“She look at me and screamed, I can still see her looking at me. She screamed ‘mommy’ over and over. I won’t hear it again, I will not hear her call me mommy again. All we have is just pictures. Just pictures. They don’t know when they kill people they leave the family distraught, it is us who hurt. They don’t know what they did to me.”

#Mrs Thurston admitted that her daughter had a troubled past, but said she recently “got her act together” and changed “her bad ways”. She said her daughter recently revealed she had been a victim of sexual abuse, something the family thinks led her down a bad path when she was younger.

#Mrs Thurston said despite it all, her daughter was a “happy person” who enjoyed living her life to the fullest. “We nicknamed her ‘Giggly’ because she was always a happy person. We found out that she was molested and that explained why she was getting into problems,” Mrs Thurston said.

#“Recently she said to me, ‘Mommy you know I love you so much, that is why I change, you don’t see I don’t get lock up no more mommy, because I love you, I love you so much.’ I will never forget that.

Murder #60

Murder stands at #60 as of Tuesday May 26th 2015,

A MAN was shot and killed early yesterday morning on his way to work during an armed robbery off Soldier Road.

#The murder occurred around 7am and took the country’s murder count to 60 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

#Officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit (CDU) Chief Superintendent Paul Rolle said the victim was picking up co-workers when he was approached by two men armed with handguns, who demanded cash.

#“Police were called to a scene off Emmanuel Way where we were told that gunshots were discharged. When we arrived on the scene we learned that a gentleman pulled up in his white truck with some workers to collect some other workers,” Chief Supt Rolle said.

#“A silver Honda pulled up behind them and two men exited with handguns and demanded cash and jewellery. The suspects relieved him of his cash and jewellery and shot him several times before leaving the area in the Honda. The victim died on the scene.”

#The victim has been identified by police as 41-year old Trevor Smith of Catnip Close, Fox Hill.

Murder #58 and #59

Murder now stand at #58

OLICE have officially classified the deaths of Shemicka McKinney and her two daughters Alisa and Gabrielle McKinney as murder-suicide, according to Chief Supt Paul Rolle, officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit.

#Chief Supt Rolle said the autopsy results, as well as evidence from the crime scene, indicates Ms McKinney, 36, committed suicide and in the process murdered her two young children.

#Three months ago, on Sunday, March 22, the bodies of Ms McKinney and her two daughters, three-year-old Alisa and six-year-old Gabrielle, were pulled from the sea, shortly after eyewitnesses said they saw a car – a dark blue Toyota Avalon – speeding off the ramp and into the water.

#One eyewitness said the woman had driven to the edge of the ramp, stopped and turned the car around. She later returned and the car went into the water.

#Police said Alisa and Gabrielle’s deaths have been added to the country’s murder count, taking the number to 59 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

#After their shocking deaths, family members described Ms McKinney as a depressed college graduate who was argumentative and out of work.

#Her grandmother, Alice Pinder McKinney, told The Tribune she was “angry, sad and confused” by the deaths of the two children.

#In an emotional interview that was interrupted with bursts of crying, she described her granddaughter as an intelligent, beautiful girl who “had a lot of problems” and “lost her way” after graduating from college in the United States. She said “Mika”, as she was affectionately called, loved her children “with all her heart.”

#Another relative told The Tribune that after an argument she put Ms McKinney out of her small apartment days before her death.

#The family previously said they assumed the troubled mother went to another relative seeking a place to stay.

#Police have in the past urged people to be on the lookout for warning signs of suicide, such as talking about it or having feelings of helplessness or worthlessness.

Murder stand at #57

Murder now stands at #57 as of Monday May 25th 2015,

THE partially decomposed body of a woman in her early 20s was found in a lake off Coral Harbour yesterday afternoon.

#This latest death takes the country’s homicide count to 59, according to The Tribune’s records.

#According to officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit, Chief Superintendent Paul Rolle, the victim was discovered in a body of water through a dirt road, about a mile off the Airport Road, by a man hunting birds.

#Police said the woman was found around 10.30am, submerged in shallow waters.

#“We have officers investigating the death of a female found in one of the lakes here in the Coral Harbour bushes, the area where BEC does a lot of their transmission lines,” he told reporters at the scene. “A local hunter made the discovery when he went to check the pond looking for birds, that is when he came across the body.

#“It appears that the victim was in the water for at least a day or two. The fish in the pond started to pick away at her face. She only sustained injuries to the upper body, primarily her face where there is apparent blunt force injury. It appears she was beaten with a blunt object. She was found fully clothed, wearing a blue jeans skirt, slippers and a floral (printed) shirt,” he added.

#Police have not officially identified the victim, but Chief Supt Rolle said a 24-year-old woman was reported missing by her family on Thursday. Police suspect this woman is the victim found yesterday.

#Up to press time, police had no motive or suspects in custody.

Murder #56

Murder Now stands at #56

A MAN has been shot dead while walking along Bias Street, off Baillou Hill Road, late on Thursday night  May 2015 night, police have reported.

#The Tribune understands the victim is 21-year-old Marco Newbold, aka Mo, who was on bail for armed robbery and scheduled to face trial in July.

#Police are seeking the public’s assistance in solving the murder, the 56th this year in The Bahamas according to The Tribune's records. Shortly before 11pm, the man was reportedly walking on Bias Street when a man with a firearm approached him and shot him multiple times about the body before fleeing on foot.

#The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigations are continuing.

Murder count stands at #55

Murder count stands at #55 as of Tuesday May 19th 2015,

A MAN in his mid 30s was stabbed to death during a heated argument with another man at a food stall on Potter’s Cay Dock yesterday. 

#While police have not officially released his identity, relatives at the scene said he was Vaughn-Handlin “Henny” Brown.

#He worked at a popular stall and frequented the area during his off time.

#The Tribune understands he was a resident in the Shirley Street area.

#Police said last night that a 31-year-old man was in their custody in connection with the murder, which brings the country’s homicide toll to 55 for the year according to The Tribune’s records.

#Police reported that shortly after 1.30pm, a man was involved in an argument with another man at the dock that resulted in him being stabbed in his body.

#Brown, police said, was then rushed to hospital, where he later died of his injuries.

#A police source said the murder was the result of a spat between two men who were heavily influenced by alcohol.

#Several people who knew the victim from the area gathered. Some were seen wiping tears from their eyes as they looked on in disbelief.

#A woman, who did not want to be named, identified herself as a family friend and said she was shocked to learn of Brown’s death. She told The Tribune he was a friendly, helpful individual. 

#“I watched him grow up,” she said, “you might as well say I helped raise that boy. I am so shocked right now to know he died out here like this. I can’t believe it. He was a people’s person working right out here. This is sad that he went this way.”

Murder count stands at #54

Murder stands at #54 as of Sunday May 17th 2015,

THE MURDER toll in The Bahamas for this year according to The Tribune's records rose to 54 in the early hours of this morning when a man was shot dead outside a Nassau nightclub.

#Police report that shortly after 1.30am on Sunday, a man was sitting on the rear of a truck leaving a club at East Street and Gibbs Corner when a male armed with a handgun walked up and shot him in the chest before fleeing on foot. The driver of the truck rushed the man to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Police involve shooting leaving a young man dead

Police involve shooting leaving one man dead. 5/16/2015

A MAN was killed in a shoot out involving police and four armed men early on Saturday in the Fort Fincastle and Mason's Addition area of New Providence.

#After responding to reports of gunshots in the area around 3.30am, officers from the police saturation patrols were confronted by four men with firearms, who opened fire on them. The officers returned fire, striking one of the suspects fatally, and recovered a Glock pistol from him.

#Another suspect was arrested at the scene after the officers recovered an AK-47 assault rifle that he dropped. The two other suspects fled and after police gave chase one was caught. The fourth suspect is being sought and the police 

Murder stands at # 53 as of 5/15/2015

Murder stands at #53 as of Friday May 15th 2015

A LOCAL fashion designer was found beaten to death in his home early on Friday morning by fire fighters responding to a blaze off Collins Avenue.

#The victim has been identified as 64-year–old Jeffery Johnson of the House of St John. His murder brought the country's homicide count to 53 for the year and occurred less than 24 hours after a security guard was beaten to death off Carmichael Road.

#Officer in Charge of the Central Detective Unit, Superintendent Paul Rolle, said firefighters received a call around 6am that a structure was on fire and when they extinguished the blaze they discovered the body.

#“They discovered the lifeless body of a man in a bathtub with multiple head injuries,” Supt Rolle said. “It appears as though he was beaten and hit in the head with a blunt force object. He was pronounced dead on the scene. The house was also extensively damaged from the fire.”

#Supt Rolle said police suspect the victim was killed and the suspect set the house on fire in an attempt to cover their tracks.

#Mr Johnson has been a designer for more than 30 years. According to an interview with elife 242, Mr Johnson spent 20 years in the United States designing in California, Illinois and New York. 

Murder #52 as of 5/14/2015

Murder stands at #52 5/14/15

POLICE are uncertain of the circumstances surrounding the murder of a 23-year-old father of one, who was found dead yesterday morning with “blunt force trauma” to the head.

The country’s murder count now stands at 52,

according to The Tribune’s records.

Officer-in-Charge of the Central Detective Unit, Chief Superintendent Paul Rolle, said when police were called to the scene off Faith Avenue, they originally thought they were investigating a hit-and-run accident, but after closer inspection the death was ruled a homicide.

“He was found around 5.40am in the middle of the road. We originally assumed it was a hit and run accident but there was no evidence at the scene that supported that theory. We still do not know the circumstances surrounding this incident. We are receiving information slowly and we have some pieces that we are trying to put together,” he said.

“We noticed he had blunt force trauma to the head, that is how he died so we are treating it as a homicide. We are still trying to determine how he got in the street. We are not sure if he was walking and was attacked or if he was a passenger in a vehicle or anything. So we are appealing to members of the public to come forward.”#The victim has been identified as Beetrum Guerrier, a security guard at the Atlantis Resort.

Murder stands at #51 as of May 8th 2015

Murder now stands at #51 as of May 8th 2015

ONE MAN has been shot dead and three others are in hospital after three separate shooting incidents in Nassau on Friday night.

#Police reported that shortly after 10pm, a man was sitting on a bench playing dominoes with a group of men on Matthew Street, Nassau Village, when the occupants of a red Kia jeep drove past and fired several shots into the group, hitting the man in the left chest. He was pronounced dead on the scene. It is the 51st murder of the year according to The Tribune records.

#A short while later a group of males was standing a block away in front of a yard at Butler Street, Nassau Village, when the occupants of a gold Nissan Maxima drove past and discharged several shots, hitting two of the males. The victims were transported to hospital, where they remain in stable condition.

#In the third incident, around 11pm, a man was walking in the Masons Addition area when the occupants of a white Honda drove past and shot at him, hitting him in the arm. The victim was transported to hospital, where he remains in stable condition.

Murder # 50 as of May 5th 2015

Murder now stands at #50 May 5th 2015

A 45-year-old man became the country’s 50th murder victim of the year when he was shot while asleep in his bed early yesterday morning.

#The victim was last night identified as George Bain Jr aka “Hoover”. The Tribune understands he was an employee at the Ministry of Works.

#Officer in Charge of the Central Detective Unit, Superintendent Paul Rolle, said the man was found dead in his bed around 7.30am in his home off Shirley Street.

#“Officers got a call from concerned neighbours that there was a possible crime in the Freetown Lane area. When officers arrived on the scene, they observed the bedroom window of a house with several bullet holes in it,” Supt Rolle said.

#“Officers forced open the door and found the 45-year-old victim in bed. He had multiple gunshot wounds in his body. During the night persons unknown fired shots into his bedroom, hitting him while he was asleep.”

#He was pronounced dead at the scene. Supt Rolle said police are unsure of the motive and have no suspects at this time.