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Teen arrested for murder
(CNS): Police made their first arrest in direct connection with one of last month's murders, following an operation in East End today (Tuesday 4 October). An RCIPS spokesperson confirmed that an 18-year-old man has been arrested and is currently in police custody in connection with the fatal shooting of Asher Williams McGaw. The body of the 21-year-old East End victim was found shot dead in John McLean Drive behind the local clinic by police officers on patrol in the early hours of Thursday, 22 September. McGaw, like the four other young men killed in gang violence during an eight day period last month, had received multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head.
With one teen currently in custody, the police said enquiries into McGaw's murder continue. Although police arrested several known gang members in the wake of the five shootings under anti-gang legislation, this is the first arrest of a suspect in direct connection with one of the killings.
Police arestill investigating the murder of three men in West Bay — Robert Bush, Andrew Baptist and Preston Rivers — as well as the fatal shooting of Jason Christian in Crewe Road and the attempted murder of Keith Montague, who was also shot four times at the same time Christian was murdered but survived the shooting.
If anyone has any information which could assist the police in relation to this enquiry, or other gun related matters in the Cayman Islands, they should call the confidential tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS).
Murder victims buried during quiet weekend
(CNS): As police spent the weekend re-visiting the various crime scenes of Grand Cayman’s recent shocking killing spree, two of the victims of the gang shootings were laid to rest in West Bay. With no new murders over the weekend, breaking the cycle of a killing on every other night for more than a week, the police were able to concentrate on hunting for the killers. Meanwhile, Cayamn27 reports that the families and friends mourned the deaths of Robert Mackford Bush, (28) and Andrew Baptist (27), the first two victims of the year. Bush was buried on Saturday at the Church of God in Mount Pleasant, West Bay, while Baptist was laid to rest at the Boatswains Bay Presbyterian Church on Sunday.
Bush was killed by at least two masked gunmen when he was lured to the junction of Captain Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill Road on 13 September. He was shot multiple times and at least once in the head with a shotgun. Baptist was shot and killed on Sand Hole Road just two days later on 15 September in what police believe was a tit-for-tat response to the killing of Bush.
Baptist was also the victim of more than one shooter and was also shot several times. His death was followed two days later by Preston Rivers in Anderson Road in West Bay, who was also shot multiple times by at least two armed gunmen, one of whom was described by police as about 5”10” tall and dressed in a blue polo shirt with white stripes and a blue shirt covering his face.
Another two days later and the gang shootings moved out of West Bay into George Town, when 18-year-old Jason Christian was shot and killed while he sat at the while of a van in Cranbrook Drive, along with Keith Montague, who was also shot several times but managed to survive and crawl to a nearby police patrol car that rushed him to the hospital. He was later airlifted to Miami.
The most recent killing was that of Asher McGaw (21), who was gunned down in East End as he walked along John McLean Drive behind the East End health clinic. He appeared to have been shot at from a car.
Police officers were in force on the streets of West Bay throughout the weekend and established road blocks along Seven Mile Beach but there has been no news of any arrests made over the weekend in relation to the murders. It appears that no one has yet been arrested directly in connection with any of the killings but police said last week that they had rounded up several known gang members under the gang legislation.
Police have not circulated any new information about the killings since a media briefing was held one week ago in the wake of the shooting of Christian and Montague. CNS has contacted the RCIPS for an update on the current situation.
In the meantime, anyone with information is asked to contact the crime hotline on 949-7777, George Town Police Stationon 949 4222 or crime stoppers on 800 TIPS which is now offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction of gun related crime.
See Cayman 27 video here
Violence fuelled by acquittals
(CNS): The police commissioner has suggested that the recent acquittals by the courts may have heightened gang tensions and fuelled the sudden spate of violence. After a year of relative calm in relation to gang violence, which were a result, he said, of the police removing a number of people off the streets and charging them with crimes, the resurgence may be down to the recent run of not guilty verdicts. David Baines has said that the acquittals have had two effects on existing tensions. Firstly, that some people may have felt betrayed by the results, and the other is that some of those who could have been involved in the violence in the first place are back on the streets. (Photo by Dennie Warren JR)
Speaking on Cayman 27’s Daybreak show on Thursday morning, the commissioner stated that the condensed period of violence was triggered by a sudden heightening of the local tensions. He said there probably are a lot of reasons why the tensions have resurfaced but the acquittals could have played a part.
“Those acquittals have had two affects … It has left one side feeling betrayed or angry about the lack of people being held to account, and possibly released some of those who may have been involved in violence to begin with,” Baines said, adding that people may be thinking that they can sort things out themselves if the authorities can’t hold people accountable.
He said the first three killings in West Bay last week – Robert Bush, Andrew Baptist and Preston Rivers — were tit-for-tat shootings between the members of the Logwoods and Birch Tree Hill gangs. Baines explained that while the police managed to get between these gangs in West Bay and that direct feud, the violence has now spilled over into other districts this week.
On Monday night two men were gunned down in George Town, when Jason Christian was shot dead and Keith Montague was severely injured after receiving four gunshot wounds. Then, in the early morning hours of Thursday, police on patrol in East End found the gunned down body of Asher McGaw. Baines said that athough these were probably gang killings, they were not directly connected to the West Bay feud.
He echoed comments made by John Jones earlier this week that police were now in the process of rounding up known gang members. “We are using any and all legislation to make arrests,” Baines said, as he explained that police were bringing in potential victims as well as people who may be suspected to be the gunmen. He said the goal was to try and calm things down and the police were working with the legal department in an effort to keep people in custody lawfully while tensions subsided.
Last March, when there was a surge of gang killings and several live murder enquiries open at the same time, the commissioner had enlisted the temporary help of UK officers. He said he had again contacted a UK force and was hoping to get two investigation teams from Merseyside over to Cayman shortly to assist the detective in the current investigations and relieve local officers.
He said the police were currently stretched to the limit and it was a very challenging time. Although the MLAs have voted more cash to replace the posts which were cut, Baines said it would take time to recruit fifty people, but in the meantime all leave days had been cancelled.
Baines also spoke about the most significant challenges his officers now have in the face of these killings, which is turning information into evidence and the community's acceptance of the gang culture. “We have always suffered the problem of people saying 'I’ll tell you but I won’t give evidence', and that’s happening now,” he said, adding that people are giving the police information but they say they won’t give evidence. As a result, he said, the police have nothing to give to the legal department to make a case.
“So everybody in the community knows who has done the shooting but they actually tolerate it, condone it, and do nothing to take them on,” the commissioner added. “Knowing who has done it and proving who has done it are very different things.”
The public had seen the evidence in the cases that have been taken to court, and he said it was the best available evidence that the police could get. He pointed out that while people continued to say that the police had to sort out the gang violence, it was clear gang culture was accepted and glamorised. He pointed to the recent pictures on Facebook where whole communities are glamorising guns. “There is no glory when are you terrified, in last minutes of your life, or when you are six feet under,” he said as he urged people to hold their communities, their friends and their family members to account.
See the commissioner on Daybreak here
Teen shot in 3rd WB murder
(CNS): A West Bay teenager has become the third murder victim in the district this week after being shot dead in Andreson Road at around 10pm on Saturday night. When paramedics arrived on the scene of the shooting Preston Rivers was already dead. It is understood the young victim was shot at by two masked gunmen and the killing is believed to be related to two other fatal shootings in West Bay on Tuesday and Thursday night, when Robert Bush and Andrew Baptist were gunned down in what police have saidis the latest spate of tit-for-tat gang related killings. One of the suspects was described by police as male, about 5”10” tall and dressed in a blue polo shirt with white stripes and a blue shirt covering his face.
On Friday morning senior police officers had stated that the patrols would be increased this weekend but they could not be on every street corner. Although the police have been given an increase in the budget this week, this cash has not yet turned into resources or an increased headcount though all officers have been placed on extra time.
Having launched the third murder investigation of the week, police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to call the major incident room in West Bay police station on 949 3999, mobile numbers 926-1773 or 925-6761. Alternatively, people can speak to any officer at any of the RCIPS’ Stations, call the police crime hotline 949 7777 or Crime stoppers at 800 (TIPS) 8477 if they wish to remain anonymous.
Police hunt multiple gunmen
(CNS): Two masked gunmen targeted 24-year-old Andrew Baptist on Thursday night when he was shot dead in a yard in Sand Hole Road, West Bay, police said Friday at a press briefing in the wake of a second murder in the district in 24 hours. They also confirmed that there were at least two gunmen involved in Tuesday night's murder of 28-year-old Robert Bush. Chief Superintendent John Jones said the two killings were connected and gang related. The senior officer said that the “worst fears had been realised” as the feud between the Logswood and Birch Tree Hill gangs had resumed.
Jones said that despite appealing for calm in the wake of the fatal shooting of Bush, “the people we are appealing to seem beyond any appeal we can make. We have to wonder how many more families will be grief stricken before this stops,” he added.
Bush was the first victim in the regenerated feud, which police say appears to have been triggered by an incident in July outside Club Inferno. It is believed he was associated with the Logswood gang and was shot at several times, including in the head, by at least two gunmen while sitting in his car at the junction of Capts Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill on Tuesday.
Last night (Thursday 15 September) Baptist, who police say is associated with the Birch Tree Hill gang, was sitting in a yard with several friends at 22 Sand Hole Road when two masked gunmen emerged from behind the house and opened fire on Baptist. Police said that while everyone scattered, the gunmen deliberately targeted the victim with multiple gunshots before they fled the scene. When emergency services arrived only a few minutes after the shooting, the victim was dead.
Head of CID, Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden, confirmed that Baptist was a person whose name had come up in connection with the enquiry into the killing of Bush on Tuesday but he did not say if he was a witness or a suspect.
The senior officer implored people to come forward and assist the police in order to put a stop to the resumption of dangerous gun violence. He pointed out that had the police had intelligence regarding the history of the two dead men they might have saved their lives. He begged people to come to the police with their information and not try to resolve the issues on the street.
“We have repeatedly asked people for information but it takes someone's death for us to get crucial information about them, when it is too late,” he added. The two senior officers both appealed again to the entire community but in particular the mothers, grandmothers and girlfriends of the young men involved in the feud to come forward with information to prevent more killings. Aware that predictions were being made in the community about further violence this weekend, Bodden said that these predictions were based on some information and people needed to tell it to the police.
They stressed that the only way the RCIPS could stop the violence was to arrest those involved and to do that they needed evidence from eye witnesses, or witnesses that knew the details surrounding the shootings.
Jones said that during the last spate of excessive gang violence early in 2010 many people had bravely come forward and helped to get the suspects behind bars and they needed the community's help again.
Jones stated that evidence was the crucial factor as the police had to operate within the law and could not just simply pluck people up of the streets without evidence. “We can't manufacture evidence,” Jones stressed. He said he understood the frustrations that when it gets to court it may not reach the standards required for a conviction, but there was little they could do about the quality of the evidence that comes to them.
Angry and frustrated by the escalating violence, Bodden begged people to come forward so that the police could act.
The officers said that they suspected that the weapons used by the gunmen are being hidden in the bush in the wake of the crimes, making it very difficult for them to find physical evidence on suspects. “We are constrained by the ingenuity of the criminal," Jones added. Bodden explained that the gunmen already have an exit plan to avoid detection before they carry out the killing, as every criminal seeks out ways not to get caught. He sai thatd given those circumstance, the police depend heavily on what witnesses can tell them in order to make arrests.
Anyone with information about the victims, the gunmen or saw either of this week's fatal shootings is asked to call the police crime hotline as soon as possible on 949 7777.
Kids deliver ‘spellbinding’ performance
(CNS): Five primary school students made history on Tuesday night in the annual Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Primary School Spelling Bee final when they all nailed every word. Oneika Duncan and Shante Reid of George Town Primary (GTPS), Jordanne Saunders of Cayman Academy, Javon Lewison of Prospect Primary (PPS) and Theodore Thompson of Truth for Youth captured the top honours when each of them spelt every word correctly. In a show of spelling genius, one by one the five dispatched words such as 'cinquefoil', 'proboscis' and 'coccyx', forcing the organisers to spend over an hour attempting to put together an entirely new set of words for a further spell off.
In the end, all five finalists who performed perfectly through to the end of the spell-off were declared first prize winners. Sponsors Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and its Area Vice President, Michael Munnings, and the organisers decided to up the prize stakes and give all of the participants the first prize when the kids simply could not be caught out.
Reigning champion GTPS retained the Best School trophy, with a winning score of 89 earned by a talented trio of girls that also included finalist Jessica Stewart.
Since the RBC-sponsored spelling bee began in 1998, GTPS has won top honours six times, although Creek and Spot Bay Primary leads with seven titles. Other winners have been Prospect Primary twice and Bodden Town Primary once.
At the same time, all 15 finalists, nine boys and six girls, turned out to be winners with performances that kept the audience of parents, teachers, family members, friends and well-wishers enthralled for nearly four hours.
Munnings said he was proud to have been a part of the wonderful display of talent by the youngsters in this 16th Annual RBC Royal Bank Spelling Bee Competition.
“At RBC, we realize the importance of developing our youth, and we remain committed to this investment, to facilitate a successful future for them and our community at large. Congratulations to all, and especially to our five-way, first place winners," he said.
Other finalists included: Deidre Edwards – BTPS; Okezie Eleweanya – Cayman Academy; Thomas Sevik – Creek & Spot Bay Primary; Andrew McLaughlin – First Baptist; Samuel White and Patrick Thompson – PPS – Shmritee Arun – St. Ignatius Primary; and Dequan Smith and Thaddeus Solomon – Savannah Primary.