Bayville community in shock after shooting

Man shot in early morning robbery attempt, Bayville left in shock

A Bayville taxi driver was shot in front of his young child during an attempted robbery on Thursday morning, shattering the area’s longstanding sense of safety and leaving residents fearful for the first time in decades.

The victim, identified by residents only as Andrew, was washing his taxi van when he was approached by an assailant and shot in the presence of his young child.

A woman who lives just a few houses away said she heard the gunshot but was inside preparing to go to the doctor. She told Barbados TODAY that in the more than 50 years she has lived there, nothing like this had ever occurred.

“We have never had anything like that in this area, never. I am 53 and I have never heard of anything like this here,” she said.

“We don’t have any problems out here. From time I was a little (child), we haven’t had any problems out here, people breaking into people’s places, people getting robbed?”

She added that while disagreements sometimes happened, they never escalated to violence: “You hear somebody is vexed with another and they get into a quarrel… but you don’t see anybody fighting, nothing.”

She described Andrew as a kind and helpful man who was always willing to assist others, often with the help of his children. “When my back was hurting me and he was washing his van down by him, he called his son and told him: ‘Come help Aunty up the gap.’ He’s a respected young man in the neighbourhood.”

Another resident said she heard sirens but chose not to look out. She too described Andrew as kind: “He’s a very nice fella… I am so sad that that happened.”

Someone who works nearby said they received a call around 8:30 am about the shooting and expressed concern about some of the youth in the community: “They have a lot of young people in the area, and the majority of them, some of them are disrespectful to other people.”

A man from a neighbouring district said he rushed over when he heard about the shooting. He also heard reports that Andrew’s young daughter was outside at the time of the incident.

He recalled that a robbery had recently occurred in his own community: “I was inside doing my chicken, when I came back out, somebody called me and asked if I knew there had been a robbery out here. I said I didn’t know anything about any robbery.”

The shooting victim remains in stable condition at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Barbados TODAY has reached out to the police for formal identification of the taxi driver and other details.
(LG)