It appears there is no abating of the bloodletting on Providenciales, as despite heavy presence of law enforcement on the ground and in the air, criminal gunmen still managed to snuff out the life of another of the country’s young men on Tuesday in broad daylight.
The latest murder took place mere metres from a gas station in Wheeland, while schools in the area were being let out. The incident which took place at the side of the road, caused lengthy traffic pileup, as investigators search for clues.
Parents picking up students from a school in the area reportedly saw a pair of police vehicles – one marked and the other not – galloping along the roadway with sirens blaring. Shortly after they saw an ambulance in the same vein, shooting past the school. It was later learnt that a man was cut down in a hail of bullets.
It was residents in the area, NewlineTCI was told, that called the police after hearing a number of explosions in the area and later saw a man lying face down at the side of the road, with what appears to be wounds to his head.
The body was clad in a blue and white polo shirt and khaki-looking pants which was below his buttocks.
The Royal Turks and Caicos Island Police Force has confirmed the killing – the sixth in under two weeks.
“The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force Officers are currently on the scene of a murder. Though reports remain limited at this time, preliminary information states at 2:57p.m., multiple calls were placed to the Police Control Room of gunshots in the vicinity of Grant’s Gas Station along the Millennium Highway.
“Based on additional information received, a male body with gunshot wounds to the head was lying motionless close to the station’s store.
“Acting on information received, officers dispatched to the location where they observed the lifeless body of a male with gunshot wounds to the head,” a news release from the police said.
The police are also warning members of the public to not share photographs taken from the scene and was being disseminating.
“Additionally, the RTCIPF has become aware that photographs from this murder are being circulated via chat groups and social media platforms. You are asked to desist from this immediately,” the police ordered.