The murder count hit 69 after a man who was released from prison just days ago, was riddled with bullets on Independence Day. The victim, identified as Francisco Hanna, 25, of Key West Street, was killed near Wilson Tract on Sunday shortly before 11 p.m., police say.
Hanna, who was charged earlier this year with causing grievous harm, was released from Her Majesty's Prison on July 8 after the charge against him was dropped. According to police reports, the victim was at Wilson Track when he was shot multiple times by another male. Hanna was taken to hospital via private vehicle where he succumbed to his injuries.
Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin yesterday lamented over the violence which took place in the heart of her constituency. "In the aftermath is left his grieving parents and his extended family, a wounded community and a country witnessing in almost helpless fashion, the rapid escalation of violent bloodshed," Hanna-Martin said in a statement.
"We must resist any rationalization of this tragedy, or any other, as killings taking place in some narrow realm of bad people with a criminal past, or who have been in prison, etc. Because in our effort to build a decent society we must face our truth and decline any comfort zones. We must ask ourselves why so many young Bahamian men meet their demise in such similar circumstances by such vicious and violent means. We must ask why we are seeing this proliferation of illegal firearms which enter undetected into this country and are transacted with apparent ease into the hands of so many young people."
She called on the government to introduce immediate action "through aggressive implementation of policies and programs " to address violent crime. Hanna-Martin added that the people of Englerston want "an end to this horror." Police say they have little leads on Hanna's murder and are requesting the public's assistance in locating the killer.
Anyone with information on the murder is asked to contact police at 911, 919, Central Detective Unit at 502-9910, 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers at 328-TIPS. Hanna's murder comes just days after Richard McKinney, 30, of Woods Alley, who was also recently released from prison was murdered.
McKinney, was acquitted of a double murder in April. He was tried for the February 5, 2010 shooting deaths of Lashon Davis and Omar Smith on Rupert Dean Lane. According to head of the Central Detective Unit (CDU) Superintendent Paul Rolle, on Wednesday, July 6, McKinney was leaving Fourth Quarter Lounge on Nassau Street with a female companion around 3:30 a.m. when two men approached him.
Rolle said McKinney reportedly saw them coming and tried to jump into his vehicle. However, one of the men shot him in his back and side. Police said the victim was still able to get into his car but collapsed a short time later and ended up driving onto the sidewalk in front of Superwash and Imperial's Takeaway on Nassau Street. EMS personnel were called to the scene but McKinney was already dead, police said. The female who was with McKinney was not harmed.
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