Homicides in Barbados are said to be down by more than half so far this year compared to the same period of last year as government’s crime prevention chief reports success with the first phase of their initiatives.

Member of Parliament, Corey Lane, the head of the crime prevention unit in the attorney general’s chambers, has been providing Starcom Network News with an update on the programs implemented in response to what was at one stage an escalating spate of gun crime.

He says a truce among gangs has been holding.

Mr. Lane says with the first phase of the crime prevention plan having worked, his department has launched other initiatives, with more to come.

Member of Parliament, Corey Lane, the head of the crime prevention unit in the attorney general’s chambers.

Meantime, at least one resident of Bayville, St. Michael is calling for a permanent police post in the area after a shooting there over the weekend.

The police say two men were injured in the shooting at St. Paul’s Avenue about 9 pm on Saturday in the area of Tonkie’s Sports Bar.

Officers who arrived at the scene were told that a motor car pulled up and two men jumped out armed with guns and started shooting. The two men who were hit ran away from the area.

One of the shooting victims, a man in his early fifties from Bayland, St. Michael, returned to the scene and reported that he had been shot in his back and groin while he was sitting in a chair in the area opposite the sports bar.

He was transported by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. 

The second victim, a male in his early twenties and who is from Bayville, was shot in his right arm and right knee. He was transported to the QEH by private motorcar.

A resident of the area is worried about the gun violence and wants a permanent police presence there. They also appealed for those behind the violence to stop it. The voice has been disguised.

A resident of Bayville, St. Michael.