Police appeal for witnesses
(CNS): While police have still not given a timeline for the emergency response to the shooting of 28-year-old Omar Barton Samuels on 4 July, the RCIPS have said a post mortem, which was carried out on Sunday 12 July, showed that the victim suffered a single gunshot wound to his leg which penetrated the Femoral Artery. Detectives investigating Samuels’ murder say a number of people who were in the area at the time of the incident have been spoken to – but not enough people are coming forward voluntarily.
Samuels was shot in the McField Lane area of George Town in the early hours of Sunday, 5 July. A major incident room continues to operate from George Town Police Station staffed by investigators and led by Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Kim Evans. A family liaison officer continues to work with the relatives and all RCIPS staff sends their condolences to the family and friends of the victim.
“We have been making contact with various people who might have information about what happened,” said Inspector Evans. “But there are people who were in and around the area who have not yet spoken to the Police. No doubt there are those who have details about what happened who have not yet passed that information to us – if you do have information, please come forward and tell us.”
A post mortem was carried out on Sunday, 12 July, which showed Samuels suffered a single gunshot wound to his leg which penetrated the Femoral Artery. Evans stressed that if people do not feel comfortable talking to the investigation team directly, there are a number of other ways people can communicate. “You could call Crime Stoppers, which is answered overseas, you could speak to an officer you know or you could call our voicemail service,” said Evans.
The response time of the emergency services to the shooting remains in question. Police have said it was impacted by the need to wait for an armed response unit to check the scene before the ambulance was cleared to enter. Evans has previously said an armed response unit was on the scene within 10 minutes of the 911 call. However, he did not say how long it then tookfor the ambulance to reach the victim, who according to reports bled to death and police have refused to comment further on the timeline.
Persons with information can use the following ways to pass it on:
Detective Inspector Kim Evans – 925-6761 or 925-7240
Crime Stoppers – 800 8477 (TIPS)
Category: Headline News
What Cayman needs is a proper intelligence department separate and away from what know is accepted as a corrupt police department. These folks would focus on gathering covert inteligence on criminials and potential criminals. The police should only be called in when the Intelligence Agency needs to either preempt a crime or stop one in progress.
The criminals know that there is no intelligence and for the most part it is perceived that the criminals have the Police in their back pocket. We have no real crime scene department woth its salt. There are not that many people in Cayman and they can’t find one piece of evidence, one finger print, DNA samples, nothing not even a witness!! Do this people come on island, commit the crime and then leave. I highly doubt it! one hundred people standing around while this guy gets shot and not one person will talk to the police. What is wrong with us? Is it fear of retaliation by the criminals because the people fear the Police will tell the criminals? If that is the case, call Crime Stoppers, go see your Pastor, your MLA or anyone else you can trust and let them get the information in the right hands.
We are dealing with brazen and hardened criminals here. If they will shoot someone in a crowd of 100 and don’t care if they are seen or caught and if they shoot down teenagers as young as 14 in cold blood, it is obvious they have no fear of the law or of anyone for that matter. i don’t know what our islands are coming to but very soon we will be putting bars on our windows and living like prisoners just to survive in our own community.
We need a wake up call. We need to speak up if we know something. We need to get involved with our youth and bring them up in the right way. We need a stronger and more professional organisation than the police force and we need to tell these criminals we are not going to let them continue to destroy our beautiful Cayman Islands and its people.
Some Scary Murder Statistics
In 2008, New York had 6.3 murders per 100,000 population, or 523 murders in total for a population of 8,345,075 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/08aprelim/table_4mt-oh.html).
The CIA World Factbook 2008 has the population of the Cayman Islands at 49,035 (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/CJ.html).
With 7 murders in the Cayman Islands in 2008 (http://centos6-httpd22-php56-mysql55.installer.magneticone.com/o_belozerov/31115drupal622/headline-news/2009/01/25/violence-crime-down), that gives a murder rate here of 14.2755 (call it 14.3) per 100,000 population.
That means that you are 2.27 times more likely to get murdered in the Cayman Islands than you are in New York City.
Welcome to our new reality.
i really wish that people would stop assuming things about people and just sent condolences to his family and his friends who miss him very deeply. he was a beautiful soul and a wonderful person.
some people are dealt a different hand in life and make poor choices, but not a single person deserves to die.
i hope the police can stop focusing on speeding tickets and easy money and fight the crimes that matter. the ones that really hurt people.
Dear fellow Caymanians… how interesting it is to see the difference in the investigation that Kurt Walton is in charge or, and the investigation that senior inWestigating officer XXXXX is in charge of…
West Bay? Four arrested, two eliminated, one eliminated, (those three no doubt having given evidence) and one still IN CUSTODY. As many arrests in that case as witnessess….
McField Square? Er….. none arrested (to clarify, thats NOT ONE) that we know about (they might have hidden it if there’s another unsub outstanding), and at least 200 (yes two hundred) witnesses….
And let us not forget the other inWestigation that the Cayman Mafia is in charge of, the rape of a child. While that historically appears to be acceptable to senior police officers, the fact that the inference is that she ‘deserved it’ the same as Sabrina, or that it was a ‘date rape’ is a VERY scary prescedent to set….
You the people have the power. Use it.
From the Compass:
"Police have confirmed details of a previously unreported 28 June shooting in the troubled Rock Hole area of George Town, after enquiries by the Caymanian Compass. A police spokesperson confirmed Friday that a 38–year–old man was shot in the hip just after 11pm on Sunday, 28 June as he walked down School Road towards McField Lane. The shooting happened not far from where 28–year–old Omar Barton Samuels was shot dead just six days later."
Hey you! Yeah, you John Q Public! Ignore the RCIPS’s flagrant hypocrisy when it comes to coming forth with information on crime. Crime happens on your street you say? Report it but never know what actually happened, if there was an investigation or even a report filed. That’s how the Royal CIA ps works.
The RCIPS needs to have real, frank and open meetings with people. Start by providing real crime data, maps and charts. Show where the crime in Cayman is focused and where it bleeds out from. Every one in the world knows certain corners are worse than others and that’s why they tell their children not to walk down them. The RCIPS wants to hide crimes and cover them up with privacy arguments. It’s a sad state of affairs when the RCIPS has lost so much trust in the public that it can’t solve a crime that possibly dozens of people witnessed. And we all know there are no secrets on Cayman so surely many people know who or what gang is responsible. The RCIPS needs to wake up and tell people when crimes happen, not leave it to a reporter to have to call about. If anyone should be handing out amnesty it should be the people of Cayman handing it to the RCIPS who have proved they are barely equipped to police an island 18 miles long. Commissioners come and go so fast nowadays its hardly worth remembering their names let alone their empty promises to bring order and moral to the force. The RCIPS need to get with the 21st century and use information against criminals, not to protect them and how hard would it be to put a permanent guard post in certain neighborhoods with a police officer or two inside all day working in shifts? Third world country’s do this all the time in bad neighborhoods and guess what, it works. But oh no, Cayman isn’t third world. Only the behavior and efficiency of all of its institutions are.
I would like to see a concerted, focused, multi-agency, sustained pressure operation that is targeting criminals with guns and dope DEALING. Do not focus on users – they are for another day, late stickers on car registrations – thats another night but instead the gangster wannabees that is wreaking gun violence and murders. The hard cores that are leading the pacts.
To maintain public support, the RCIPS has to be well co-ordinated with their actions (covert) but also highly managing their PR efforts relevant to the operations (overt). Travel in teams of 10 – 15 officers in vans to known spots (mulitiple operations simultaneously). Add pressure…turn the heat up, major surveillance first, surreptitious in their movents. Intelligence gatherings from previous gang leaders or reformed 1990’s leaders etc. should be pursued with vigor. I would support and suspect others would as well, the pay out for informations. This effort must be the same on sea and land. Basically…if we have 10 – 50, usually very known persons, facing serious charges with crediable evidence in hand the public will sing the praises of the RCIPS.
If doors are torn down this will all be justified if the surveillance, intelligence and arrests are met with convictions. This will be important, so as to ensure that we dont get a halt to operations because the public wakes up to a Caymanian Compass headline: Mother, Grandmother with young children terrorized by gun totting masked policemen. That would be a sure killer to the operations.
I pray the right mind and persons read this and see where am going and turn the heat up immediately. We can do this guys and I pray the public will assist everyway.
RIP Marcus….my continued prayers for our country. may His spirit lead and direct those who seek to do good.
Ps. whoever heads up the teams: the first sign of some trigger-happy cop (violent in his own right) should be let go from the team. Surely we need men on the Teams but men with brains and ths country at heart. I would even support deputising former good policemen who could be seconded to the force just for these operations.
Looks like the trail has gone dead. More than 48 hours after a murder with no suspect starts to get increasingly difficult to solve. Given that the area is one notorious for drug dealing at night it is unlikely that any reliable evidence is going to be forthcoming.
Come now – he is shot in the vicinity of more than 100 people – there was a big police response to "make it safe" for the ambulance crew (apparrently it was already safe for the 100+ by-standers) – and they did not take the names and details of everyone present who had just potentially witnessed a murder?
Same thing happened 20 years ago on a booze cruise. People actually tried to come forward give their details to police who responded with a "not – now, later ". When later came many of the witnesses had left the Island and never could be contacted. I believe the suspect eventually killed himself.
When there is a traffic fatality it is perfectly OK to inconvenience large numbers of motorists by detaining them for hours in the middle of the night by keeping the road closed while measurements are taken, etc.. (ask Dr. Frank) but when there is an actual murder we are not willing to inconvenience a potentially material witness by asking for their names and phone numbers before they leave?
People are creatures of habit. Go to same place at same time a week later and most will be back there again.
Come on guys – a few well placed high quality and centrally monitored cams around the Island would do so much. WTF are we waiting for?