By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A MAN fired multiple shots in Hammerheads on East Bay Street early Saturday morning, shooting a patron and a security officer who was attempting to flee.

Bar owner Tedd McFerren – who told The Tribune he witnessed the entire incident – said the suspect had been involved in an argument with several off duty police officers inside the bar before he left to get his gun from his car.

“There was an altercation in the bar and the shooter and his friends were escorted outside the bar,” he said. “They then went to their car, got the gun, and started shooting.”

“The one guy that was shooting was just sort of shooting at anything really, but he went looking to shoot the police. There was a bunch of cops in there that night.”

It is unclear what started the fight between the suspect and the off duty officers.

But Mr McFerren said as the scene grew chaotic with patrons screaming and “scattering,” the officers caught the suspect and subdued him.  

He added that about 200 people were in the bar at the time of the incident.

“I almost went to tackle him, but he had his friend with him and I didn’t know if his friend had a gun also,” he said. “We have a lot of security here. Unfortunately, you can’t be armed as a security so what can an unarmed security do when someone with a gun shows up?”

Police currently have two persons in custody for questioning in connection with the matter.

According to the police report, one man was shot in the arm and the other was shot multiple times about his body before the suspect fled on foot.

Mr McFerren said that in view of the incident, residents will soon have to start swiping a smart card through a machine before they would be allowed to enter his bar.

He said he hopes to introduce the “swipe card ID database system” in four weeks, adding that the system is expected to eventually be used by nightlife establishments around the island.

Such establishments have been preparing to introduce the system “for months now,” he said, adding that Saturday morning’s shooting will certainly hasten the process of introducing the system which will be the first of its kind in the country.

He said the Downtown Bar and Restaurant Association has been consulting with Bahabar, a bar services organisation, for several months about introducing the system to help business owners determine which potential patrons to allow into their businesses.

The system, he said, has gained the full support of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

He said potential patrons will first go through the “normal protocol” of entering a nightlife establishment, such as being searched by a security guard.

“Once they do that they will provide their card,” he said. “Once it’s swiped, something would come up telling us that they are okay. Or maybe a red flag would come up; maybe they caused a fight a week ago at Green Parrot and Green Parrot reported this. Maybe they are wanted for a robbery. Something would come up to show that they have caused problems and we would act accordingly.”

This way, he said, “we will keep the random few trouble makers out there from preventing the rest of us from doing what we want to do. While nothing is 100 per cent effective, this will be as close as humanly possible, I think.”

Mr McFerren said after Saturday morning’s incident, his business has already started to implement stricter codes to screen people who want to get into his establishment.

“You must have ID’s,” he said. “You must be 21 to get into the bar and you must have proper attire.”

“(Sunday) night I was here at the door,” he said. “There was a ton of people that obviously weren’t trouble makers, but they didn’t have their ID’s. I had to turn a lot of people away. We want to create a culture here that gets people to have their ID.”

He added: “IDs just show me that you have an identification. I figure that most criminals won’t carry their IDs. I can guarantee that guy that came in here and fired shots didn’t have his ID. But when you have your Bahabar nightlife card, we’d have access to a database that’s shared through the police system. The card will come from us. Somebody that has a record or is wanted from the police are not going to be given a card. And if they do get a card and it’s swiped and they are wanted, the police is going to know that person just entered Hammerheads or Green Parrot or another establishment.”