Two young children on their way home from school almost became the 41st and 42nd murder victims for 2019 when brazen gunmen launched an attack in Well Gap, Cave Hill, St Michael this afternoon.
According to eyewitness reports, around 3 o’clock at least two men in a white car approached the area. One got out of the vehicle and recklessly opened fire where numerous women and young children were walking.
Many reported hearing at least six loud explosions, which sent pedestrians running for their lives and leaving others in fear that the shooters could return hours after the ordeal.
“There’s a lot of panic, shock and surprise, because it happened in the daytime. Nothing like this has happened in a while out here so people are very surprised and concerned, especially about the two children,” said one woman, who explained that two young students of Grazettes Primary were approximately two feet away from where the gunman was shooting.
Residents reported the vehicle from which the shooter emerged had been circling the district suspiciously throughout the day before acting.
Another lady who is pregnant was standing near her front porch with her daughter and was talking with three girlfriends when the gunman passed nearby.
“In two-twos we just heard ‘pax pax pax pax’ and then these two little children were coming home from school and when they got by the track by us, the person was still shooting and the two children were there and one of the little boys froze and the other one ran. I had to push them into my house until the gunman got back into the white car,” she revealed.
“Those could have been my children and I felt really badly just now. As a pregnant person, I thought I would have gone into labour just now, because of how frightened I was. My stomach started to hurt me and the little children were so frightened that they were not even speaking.”
Moments later, scores of heavily armed police officers and a handful of Barbados Defence Force (BDF) soldiers closed off the often busy road to investigate.
While residents are thankful that no one was hurt, many revealed the harrowing ordeal brought back memories of a time when the community was considered a crime ‘hotspot’ and expressed hope that those days would never return.
“The person who did that should realise this is a place where a lot of people live. Why would they come and do that?” asked one resident.
“We haven’t had this shooting thing in our district for so long and it was so nice to see that police didn’t have to come around here, so I don’t know why someone would come out here and do that in a district like this.”
The two young children who narrowly escaped serious injury or death were reportedly taken home by their mother still traumatised.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
