“Those Targeted Are Involved in Gang Issues”
Acting in his capacity of Acting Governor, Deputy Governor David Arkley came very close to publically saying what numerous locals whisper about.
Barring the police routinely describe the victims as being “targeted”, and often stating they believe shootings to be “gang related”, various aspects of the shootings have not widely been acknowledged publically.
Mr. Arkley is a career diplomat with over two decades of experience, having served in Angola, Brazil, Ethiopia, Jordan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Washington DC.
The Acting Governor spoke on Easter Sunday at a police press conference, discussing aspects of the shootings as relating to our international relations. Assuring of the fact that Bermuda is still deemed a very safe destination for tourists, Mr. Arkley spoke of the wave of recent shootings stating:
Those targeted are involved in gang related issues. They’re targeting one another, not members of the public or visiting tourists
The Acting Governor was speaking prior to the shooting at Dandy Town, which appears not to be targeted, with the police describing it as “indiscriminate”, then later saying it may have been targeted but the individuals hit were not thought to be the targets. It is widely assumed the two people shot [Antoine Tuzo and Mikaela Outerbridge] were simply unfortunate, and not targeted in any manner.
Taking Deputy Governor Arkely’s statement into account, we looked at three shooting victims of the first 13 weeks of 2010, and quickly saw that they had criminal charges levied against them for a variety of offences. All of these cases are public knowledge, having turned up during a simple 5 minute Google search of their names.
According to press reports, criminal convictions they had between them including stabbing a female, dishonesty, carrying a weapon, possession of crack cocaine and grevious bodily harm for what the Royal Gazette termed a “brutal torture case“, describing the victim as being “chopped with a machete, beaten with a two-by-four until it broke, had plastic bags burned over both legs, was beaten by his own brother, and had dogs released on his feet.”
Amongst the three victims, there were other criminal charges pressed against at least one of them which resulted in either an acquittal or charges being nullified including; possession with intent to supply cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy, and crack, possession of a firearm without a licence, having the firearm in a public place without lawful authority and possession of a firearm with intent of endangering life.
As far as the three gun charges, the Royal Gazette stated that the Crown “nullified firearms charges when the main witness in the case refused to testify at a preliminary inquiry because he had been threatened.”
