Police inspector Angelique Howell found herself in the middle of a shooting investigation during a Friday night patrol in West Bay.
The Royal Cayman Islands Police station commander for the district said she and other officers were checking the area near Kelly’s Bar in response to residents’ concerns.
‘We decided that we were going to check (the bar) to see if there were any anti-social behaviours going on,’ Ms Howell said.
Around 11.30pm, while outside the bar, Ms Howell said officers heard gunshots coming from the vicinity of Birch Tree Hill road. A few moments later, a 24-year-old man ran over to the officers.
He’d been shot in the back of his upper arm. Chief Inspector Howell said she transported him to the hospital in an unmarked patrol car. The man was treated and released over the weekend.
Several hours later, gunshots were heard again in West Bay. This time, police said they were fired into a home on Miss Daisy Lane.
The 25-year-old man inside when the shots rang out around 6am Saturday was cut by glass which officers believe was broken by the gunshots. He was not hospitalised.
‘It was . . . pure luck that no one was seriously injured (in the shootings),’ Inspector Howell said.
Police were looking into the possibility that the two incidents were related.
A 23-year-old man was arrested in connection with the Saturday morning shooting on Miss Daisy Lane. He had not been charged at press time.
WB arrests
More than a dozen arrests were made in West Bay over the weekend for various crimes that were not connected to the shootings.
Eight people were taken into custody on suspicion of possession and/or use of ganja or other illegal drugs. There was one arrest for possession of an offensive weapon, two arrests for disorderly conduct, one arrest for drunk driving, and another person was picked up on a warrant.
‘It is disappointing that two firearms-related incidents occurred,’ Ms Howell said, but added the drugs arrests were encouraging and congratulated West Bay officers for their efforts.
A number of West Bay residents complained at a public meeting last week that officers were paying too much attention to traffic violations and not focusing enough on drugs crime.
Ms Howell said high visibility patrols would continue, particularly over the weekends when she said drug-related activity tends to increase.
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