Gun violence and road accidents kept the Saint Lucia Fire Service (SLFS) busy as the country celebrated its 44th anniversary of independence on Wednesday.
One man succumbed to gunshot wounds in Soufriere, and another male was in critical condition after an incident at the waterfront gas station in Soufriere at about 3:40 pm.
Police identified the deceased in the Soufriere shooting as 28-year-old Kevin St. Hall of Jacmel.
Eleven males are currently in police custody concerning that incident.
Hours later, as police investigated a shooting along the Bexon Highway, an officer-involved shooting claimed the life of Negel George, a twenty-two-year-old resident of Paix Bouche, Babonneau.
A police statement said a motorcycle failed to stop at the scene, entering the restricted area.
“Several attempts to stop the rider by officers proved futile,” the statement observed.
As a result, the discharge of a single round of ammunition injured the rider and the pillion rider, it said.
According to the police, the rider, whose leg was injured, was later pronounced dead at the OKEU Hospital.
The gun incidents continued into Wednesday night in the Sandy Beach area of Vieux Fort, where two males, identified as Denzil Joseph, 27, of Cantonement, Vieux Fort, and Kareem Mc Farlene, of Bruceville, Vieux Fort, died after sustaining gunshot injuries.
The Island also recorded vehicle incidents.
“What was supposed to be a day of celebration for the people of Saint Lucia became a very traumatic day for the island with a series of unfortunate events,” Communications Officer Stacy Joseph said in reporting on the emergency responses.
In addition to the gun violence, the SLFS also had to respond to vehicle incidents.
They included a head-on collision at Thomazo between a motorcycle and a minibus at about 1:30 pm, resulting in the hospitalisation of the rider.
In addition, a motorcycle struck a man at Anse La Raye and emergency personnel transported him to the OKEU hospital.
A similar incident occurred in Aupicon at 8:50 pm.
Emergency personnel also transported four people to the hospital after a minibus overturned in Soufriere.
And there was also a multiple-vehicle accident along the Mon Repos Highway.
The police reported that pedestrian Nicholas Modeste aka Nac or Lazy Master 61, from Mon Repos, was struck by one of the vehicles and succumbed.
Headline photo: Stock image
No wonder chastenet cancelled all the fetes when he was in power. No murders at Royalton
All this and it’s not even the weekend yet.
Those eleven should be tied to the sculptor in Castries, the men rowing without a boat from UWP and the entire island come and check them.WTF woiiiiii Remarkable job Marine Patrol, the Majority of the Island thanks you along with Thanks to all the EMT’s. People be more mindful of you’re surroundings! BikeLife’
One killing a day is starting to sound like a doctor’s prescription for bad case of Societal dysfunction haemorrhoids..truth is, Saint Lucia is at a major cross road in its growth and evolution and yet there seem to be no solution at hand to inject some poison in the crime monster’s @##… It is already too late to wrangle the proverbial bête noir back into its cage because as is usually the case, the authorities have no answers to this issues…yet It must take society at large to deal with these issues….where do we start?…the home?…the schools? The government? Where does on start to tackle this scourge of society when the people have had enough of these gun toting pillocks…I fear this is becoming the norm, citizens will become desensitised to violence and what you have is a nation sleep walking it’s way to becoming a failed state. . . We want to hear the police on their plans to tackle these issues ..what does the government have to say? You must offer the law abiding citizens some hope that these rascals are being dealt with….I weep for you dear Country.
We need to ĺook at the root of all these killings. We only blaming the government and the police and the real core is ignored.
I have examined and see the root of the problem is the drugs in St. Lucia, the Marijuana and cocaine. Theses killings have nothing to do with unemployment.
@ C – WIZ, you asked —where do we start—the home? —the Schools?—the Government? there’s one missing link; a sure foundation, the house of God – the Church. One should be taught to pray daily [morning] ask the Angels to guide you; with faith in God He never fails; just trust and obey, for there’s no other way & stop sinning.
@The Fox…
Your proposal of bringing god into this has proven over and over to be pointless and fruitless… consider this:
– if god was worth his salt, he single handedly could have sought out Saint Lucia’s problems considering there are many so called religious and holy people in Saint Lucia..
– if god was worth his salt, the issues we faced to could be traced back to the under development of Saint Lucia caused by the ravages of slavery then colonisation and technically where was god when your ancestors were enslaved for 400yrs building the wealth of foreign nations…. presumably he or she? Sat on his throne watching this dispicable act against humanity and did nothing about it….
– god? Which one? If you knew anything about worldly religions and their gods, u would have realised u are just one of those fooled in a long line of others who are equally fooled to believe in the pie in the sky… Some religions have millions of gods…which god are u refering to?…what makes u think your god is the true god?
– it is presumptuous of you to sit behind your comfy chair and blow your god horn when somewhere in the world others are facing hell on earth…where was god in the Turkey earthquake? Where innocent children perished, never mind the adults…an unborn child was saved when her mom died in that earthquake..where was your god?…
Closer to home…how is it that a nation like Saint Lucia, which u would admit is a religious country, with all many of religions, worship Saturday and Sunday in, Saturday and Sunday out….yet the social issues are getting worse…where is your god ..