Wilchcombe condemns violence on Bimini and attack of woman on Key West Street

West Grand Bahama and Bimini MP Obie Wilchcombe yesterday condemned a shooting on Bimini yesterday morning, which left a man seriously injured.

According to police, they received reports of the shooting in Bailey Town, Bimini, shortly after 9 a.m.

“Upon the officer’s arrival, the initial investigation revealed that two adult males were involved in a physical altercation, which resulted in one of the males being shot about the body,” police said.

The victim, who police said was in serious condition, was taken to New Providence to seek medical attention.

A video of the altercation depicted two men fighting in the street. One of the men shot the other, while he was just inches away from him. 

Wilchcombe, who is the minister of social services, said more must be done to get guns off the streets.

“We are deeply wounded by it and severely disappointed,” he said.

“The reality is we have to get guns off of the streets.

“The proliferation of guns in the capital and also in our second city is now moving through the islands.

“And the incident this morning, obviously we all feel very badly about the injury to the young man.

“But the truth is we have a bigger problem and the bigger problem is we don’t have to have guns on our streets.

“There are too many weapons moving about and we have to do more to protect our borders.

“It is all well and good to talk about protecting our borders from illegal immigration.

“I would prefer us to have an equally strong campaign about keeping weapons off of our streets, out of the hands of individuals who are responsible … for what happened today, because our difficulty is we talk and then there is a manifestation and then we react. What we must do now is do more to ensure that we are getting the guns off of our streets.”

He also raised concern over the issue of gender-based violence.

His comments came after a video depicting a man, who ran over a woman with a car after beating her in the street, was circulated on social media, provoking widespread outrage and commentary. Police said the incident was a domestic dispute.

Wilchcombe said his ministry is currently in the process of looking at legislation that was shelved by previous governments. 

“We are looking at a number of issues that we believe have been talked about over the many years but very little done,” he said.

“We are seeing where pieces of legislation should have been completed. We are seeing where legislation was paused and sections of legislation not carried out, particularly as it relates to child abuse.

“So, I intend to, when we next meet in Parliament to discuss the supplementary budget, I intend to speak about those issues and to speak about the new initiatives we are taking … because it is imperative that we do something about it.

“We don’t want to find ourselves here another year going through the same thing.”

In the meantime, Wilchcombe said he believes a public relations campaign on the issue is needed immediately.

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