It may possibly be the sternest warning, on Wednesday, ever issued by the Royal Anguilla Police to young men in Anguilla involved in fighting with the use of guns and knives, as well as committing a series of armed robbery offences.

Inspector Emris Rogers, Deputy Commissioner Rudolph Proctor and Inspector Paul Sinclair

The warning came from Deputy Commissioner, Rudolph Proctor, and Inspector Paul Sinclair, while commenting on a number incidents reported by Inspector Emris Rogers. Among the matters was a fight at Blue Castle Night Club in The Farrington on Saturday, February 27. A young man suffered a stab wound and was admitted to the hospital where he was still receiving treatment up to press time on Thursday.

The Police are connecting a shooting attack to the incident also at that Night Club on Monday, March 1. It was reported that several gun shots were fired into a wooden attachment at the rear of the building which was occupied at the time. Luckily, no one was injured.

Inspector Sinclair reported that on Tuesday night plain clothes police officers on foot patrol in The Valley area came upon a group of young men around 18 years of age. As the lawmen approached them, they ran away. The Police chased one of them nearby and, after a violent struggle, were able to subdue and arrest him. Subsequently, a loaded firearm was found on the opposite side of Lake’s Do-it-Best. The police have connected this incident with the armed robbery at Lake’s Food World, reported last week.
Randy Gumbs of Bad Cox was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm and was due to appear in the Magistrate’s on Thursday.

With regard to the shooting at the Night Club in The Farrington, Inspector Sinclair stated: “There were quite a number of shots discharged with no regard for human life. There was a person inside the wooden building and, miraculously, despite the number of bullets that were discharged, he was unscathed, but we could have been looking at a murder.”

Deputy Commissioner Proctor warned that the Police were deploying all available resources to deal with these incidents. “There is going to be a very strong response to this sort of recklessness that we have seen emerging over the last couple of days and persons must be under no misconception about the engagement of the Police,” he emphasised. “We are going to be pursuing these people quite vigorously. We cannot afford to allow this community to be disturbed by such reckless behaviour on the part of those persons. We are going to be on every street corner, and in every area, where we think there is a possibility that this activity would occur and we are going to confront those individuals.”

The weekly police report showed that there were 18 crimes during the period February 10 - 17. Among them were four burglaries at Long Bay, Carnival Village and Barnes Bay. The items stolen included laptop computers, desktop computers, speakers and an air-condition unit. There was one attempted robbery in The Quarter.

Six thefts were reported at East End, Little Harbour, South Hill, Shoal Bay, Cauls Bottom ands George Hill. The stolen items included a kitchen faucet, water tanks, a fruit tree, DVDs, a cellular phone and a rubber dinghy.
There were two cases of wounding and two cases of criminal damaged.

Ten male persons were arrested during the period: four on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, arising out of the fight at the Night Club; three on suspicion of possession of a firearm; and another three on suspicion of criminal damage.
There were five road accidents.

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