By Kenton X. Chance
Deputy Commissioner of Police Frankie Joseph is expected to lead the top brass of the police force to meet with Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves today (Wednesday), as St. Vincent and the Grenadines has recorded five killings in 10 days and 23 homicides this year.
Acting Commissioner of Police Enville Williams is overseas on official duty hence his deputy will lead the talks with Gonsalves, who is also minister of national security.
Vincentians awoke Wednesday morning to the news that Osborne Glasgow aka Soca, 63, was shot and killed inside the first-floor apartment where he lived with his wife and children at Harmony Hall.
Police said burglars shot and killed Glasgow around 4 a.m. during a home invasion.
iWitness News understands that Glasgow was killed by one of two or three people who forced their way into his home.
Initial reports suggest that Glasgow may have thought that the assailants had left the property, but one who was still in the house, shot him, killing him at the scene.
The shooting took place at a property that also houses several apartments and a guest house, a section of which was the family’s home.
Outside the fenced property in the upscale community that is home to several senior public servants and prominent citizens, villagers expressed shock at the killing.
One woman said that she had been living there for 14 years and had never heard of any killing in the community.
Another woman said she is related to murder victims Kishroy Duke aka World, 22, and Vandyke Mayers aka Papa, 42, of Choppins, two cousins whose deaths remain unsolved two years after they were shot and killed in Golden Vale on April 29, 2022, after an incident at a football match in Calliaqua.
In his weekly show on the state-owned NBC Radio, Gonsalves said that the optimism he felt after the country’s hosting of five matches in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was “tinged with great sadness” at the killing.
“I want to begin first of all by extending sympathy to the widow and immediate family and I will personally call the widow as soon as this programme is over,” the prime minister said.
“I want to give the assurance to the public that we will redouble all efforts to catch the culprit or culprits.”
He said the meeting will receive “a full report from the leadership of the police force as to what we are doing and what additionally we are required to do”.
The prime minister said the police chief was not in the country, adding that he had spoken to the deputy commissioner.
“And I’m going to summon the meeting of the deputy, the assistant commissioners and, of course, the superintendents so that we can have not a prolonged meeting, an action meeting,” Gonsalves said.
“That is all I will say at the moment but be assured that there will be certain particular responses. We cannot allow a small minority, a tiny minority of criminals to disturb the peace and tranquillity of this beautiful country. And I give my continued assurance,” he said.
“I am sorry that the commissioner is not in the country, but what happened last night is a matter which I consider worthy of summoning the entire top brass to see what additional can be done.”
The death Wednesday came less than 48 hours after news broke around 11:30 p.m. Monday, as the country hosted the final of its five cricket world cup matches, that Kezron Deshong, 26, died while being treated in hospital after being shot at his home in Belmont, another East St. George community.
iWitness News understands that Deshong was sitting on the patio of the house where he lived, about 20 feet from the road when someone shot him.
Deshong ran into the house and a relative assisted him and he was transported to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where he died while receiving treatment.
On June 19, police found the bullet-ridden body of Dwayne Jacobs, 34, along the bank of a river near his home in Paul Over, a Central Kingstown community.
Jacobs’ body was found when police returned to the area that morning, having responded the previous night to a report of gunshots in the area.
When police initially responded to the report, Jacobs was not found at his home.
Police said that preliminary reports indicated that Jacobs had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and a broken right foot during the attack that ended his life.
iWitness News understands that police were examining a theory that Jacobs had jumped out of a window of the house and ran in the direction of the river when the attack began.
The alleged theory is that the attacker pursued Jacobs and fired several rounds of high-calibre ammunition into his body along the river bank.
Jacobs had been known to law enforcement for about 20 years.
In November 2004, Jacobs, then 14, along with Randy Shallow, 18, Luther Badnock, of Dascent Cottage, and Earl Jack, 17 of Redemption Sharpes, was jointly charged with murder in connection with the abduction and murder of Police Constable, Elson Richardson aka Raca, 41, of Barrouallie.
Jacobs went on to testify for the Crown in the case in which Shorn George, 23, and Earlando Lampkin, 25, were sentenced to life imprisonment, while Jack, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
Jacobs’ death came two days after Zeno Lee aka Sarge of Murray’s Village was shot and killed in the East Kingstown community.
Police said that on June 16, a gunman entered a bar, accosted the patrons and opened fire.
Lee died in a river near the bar.
Additionally, Enrique King, another adult male, sustained gunshot wounds to his right chest and his right arm. Ronald Millington sustained a broken leg while fleeing the scene during the incident.
Lee was the older brother of murder victim Zenroy Lee aka Chucky, 31, a national footballer, who was shot and killed in another section of Murray’s Village on April 24.
Police have identified as the only suspect in Lee’s death Romano Pompey aka No Mercy, 35, who officers shot and killed in Redemption Sharpes about 3 hours after he allegedly killed Zenroy.
They said that officers shot Pompey after he attempted to shoot at them.
The other homicide victim over the last 10 days is Garry Glasgow, 46, of Hospital Road, Kingstown, whose body was found on June 18 with its throat slashed at the School for Children with Special Needs, in Fernside Kingstown, where he worked as a night watchman.
Police have said that their investigations into each of the killings continue and are asking people with information to call Police Emergency at 999/911, Police Control at (784) 457-1211, or the Criminal Investigations Department / Major Crimes Unit at (784) 456-1810, or any police station.
We are too busy harassing Adriana King to be able to fight crime. It is more important to be vindictive than to really fight crime. When will they realize they have outlived their usefulness and just leave.
Our best and brightest minds are developing other countries. Technology is a game changer we do not employ. Every street in SVG should be surveyed by CCTV. Allow residential homes to import 2-3 CCTV camera at concessional rates. Poor thinking ended with a policy that only focused on commercial entity and those in Kingstown. Most deaths are in communities!!! Unless our lives don’t matter as much as the properties in Kingstown! Poor thinking!!
Most transactions should be online. We need to know who selling what ( trading in stolen goods). All apartments need to be apart of a database ( how man paying rent and not working… where are these stolen goods stored?)… Use technology to break up the crime networks. How you going to control crime if you can’t trace the profits from it? We are living in a world where knowledge and technology are the most important currencies yet these are not prioritised. A whole set of physical infrastructure that doesn’t address our needs.
Now we have IT professional and little to no programmers. No one can’t hack anything because our smart students emigrated.
OVERLOOKED DEPUTY JOSEPH TO LEAD VISITATION TEAM
Interesting, that the overlooked commissioner-material Frankie Joseph is to lead a visitation team to the office of national security.
PM Gonsalves should, with IMMEDIACY, summon the ‘RETURN’ of the substantive Acting Commissioner of Police, Enville Williams.
Though early-stage yet, he shall give:
(a) Account of his stewardship; and
(b) Present the ‘Crime Prevention/Action Plan’.
Should he or his plan show FAILINGS and not past the TEST, though the Mountain Range, he should still ask to MOVE WEST
Indeed, 5 murders in 10 days, more than alarming, frightening and horrifying.
However, with apparent ‘TARGETED KILLINGS’, the citizens should not be unduly alarmed.
They shall, however, be extremely careful.
At home, install burglar bars, if so resourced for added protection
Sympathies to bereaved families.
What’s the pm discussing with the deputy police? Friday’s Canadian citizenship you suppose ? He downplays the high crime rate and would try to distract you with something totally irrelevant to what’s happening in Vincy . A trickster?
Mr pm you have done some many great things for svg but strongly fail our ppl it goin on way over 10 years of rapid crime increase yet nothing done but talk..