By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are appealing to the public for information related to the country’s latest homicide after a man who was shot while riding a moped early Thursday morning died in hospital.

The death pushed the country’s homicide count to 17 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

According to police reports, shortly before 1am a man was riding a moped on Bias Street off Blue Hill Road, when a man armed with a handgun approached and shot him before fleeing on foot.

The victim was taken to hospital where he later died on Thursday.

The shooting death continues the murderous trend that marked the start of the year.

On Wednesday, two men were fatally shot in the Logwood Road area of Freeport, Grand Bahama.

One man was taken into custody in connection with that matter.

Additionally, 14 people were killed in January, outpacing the murder count of January 2016 when only eight people were murdered that month.

Anyone with information on any of these incidents is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS.