Three persons were killed in St Kitts-Nevis today in what police said seemed to have been targeted killings. Four persons were also injured. The police have not released the names of the dead persons.
A statement issued by St Kitts PM Denzil Douglas follows:
In the early hours of Saturday morning, there were three killings in the Federation..
Eye witnesses state that the victims seemed to have been targeted.
In the process, four other persons were injured.
We have had almost two years of peace and tranquility in St. Kitts. The men and women of our Police and Defense Forces have worked extraordinarily hard, they have made excellent use of additional training and equipment, and they have benefited tremendously from our county’s strong relations with regional and international law enforcement agencies. This has had a very positive impact on the ground, and I wish to make it clear that my Government is determined to keep it this way.
Like everyone in the Federation, I am appalled by this brazen act.
As Prime Minister, I extend sincere concerns to those who were injured and sincere condolences to those whose loved ones lost their lives. And as Prime Minister, I remind each and every citizen and resident that indifference to criminality is not an option.
Accommodating any form of criminality in your communities – and particularly in your homes – can come back and hit you hard.
Because revenge and retaliation are often at the base of much crime, accommodating or excusing criminal behavior in your communities, your businesses, or your homes could result in you – or those you care about – falling victims in a cycle of action and reaction. And the only way to protect yourself and those you love is to do what the people of the Federation have been doing for the past two years now – strengthening their partnerships with law enforcement…….ensuring that our children avail themselves of the youth-oriented programs organized by the police………doing their part to make our homes, our neighborhoods, and our country, crime free zones.
Good, decent, and law-abiding citizens constitute the vast and overwhelming super-majority in this country. And it is we who must – and will – define the fabric and texture of life here. No-one else.
Certainly no one person, intent on violence, can be given greater weight than the rest of us combined. We, as a people, have already shown, and dramatically so, that when working in partnership with our police and defense forces, the law-abiding and decent citizens of our country most assuredly prevail. We have proven this over the past two years. And this is the trajectory on which we must – and shall – remain.
The Government thanks those good citizens who have already begun working with law enforcement in order to assert who and what we are as a people and a nation. On this and all matters, let us all commit ourselves to this caliber of involvement, this caliber of concern, this caliber of patriotism.
The public has my assurance that our country’s law enforcement is treating the apprehension of the person responsible for this heinous act as a matter of utmost urgency.
