Security Council calls for calm after weekend shootings
The National Security Council (NSC) has called for calm in the territory as it expressed a commitment to introducing measures and relevant legislation to bring a resolution to recent shootings and other unsolved crimes.
The NSC said it was monitoring recent reports of multiple shootings, including a serious incident last Friday night that left one person wounded.
Friday’s shooting victim, Jeron Romney, was officially named for the first time and the NSC said Police Commissioner Mark Collins updated the Council yesterday on the welfare of Romney, and about the ongoing investigation.
Romney was shot near the MultiPurpose Sports Complex late on Friday and was taken to the Dr D Orlando Smith Hospital afterwards. The Royal Virgin Islands Police Force noted that investigations into the incident are ongoing. However, it is unclear whether police have since identified any suspects in the matter.
Recent incidents in the territory have raised concerns among residents about crime and public safety. There have been reports about various criminal activities, including shootings, robberies, and drug trafficking that have alarmed the public.
Significant drug busts have also turned heads, including an operation on March 5 that resulted in the seizure of 1.8 tonnes of cocaine — the highest ever recovered at sea — valued at approximately $180 million.
In the meantime, Collins told the NSC that there were reports of several gunshots on the evenings of March 23 and 24 but according to the top cop, investigations so far have not confirmed the nature of those reports.
In its statement on Monday, the NSC encouraged communities throughout the territory to continue to support the police in ongoing investigations, “specifically anyone who had contact with Mr Romney over the past 24 to 48 hours”, by calling Crime Stoppers and the confidential and untraceable hotline 800-8477[TIPS], 800-847-8477 and 368-9339.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
Call for calm? My God! Like anyone of those guilty, or interested, will listen to a ‘call for calm’.
Seriously, STFU, because it will not be long before there will be ‘little to no calm’ here with all you wannabe clowns running our Country into the ground!
I can honestly tell you for the first time in my life there is a real sense of uneasiness and frustration here. Never felt it before, like some are feeling it now. The ‘pot’ is truly coming close to ‘boiling’.
Sick and tired of all the talk! DO SOMETHING!
I totally agree with you. What a set of useless people. The BVI is suffering from the useless waste appointed to a lot of these boards and departments. In the past, they have rejected and kept down good people and today they are reaping those seeds through a set of useless people who cant carry the country forward.
People tend to think an island can be wealthy. Look at Bermuda it’s a top 5 wealthiest country in the world and it’s an island. Government needs to think outside the box. What they thought would work in the past hasn’t.
Increased police presence after the shooting? Not a chance.