By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

NEW Providence’s killing spree continued over the weekend when two men were murdered in two separate shooting incidents less than 24 hours apart.

The deaths took the country’s murder count to 32 for the year and marked the 18th homicide in February, according to The Tribune’s records.

This also means that 601 people have been killed since the Progressive Liberal Party took office in May 2012, according to The Tribune’s records.

Ahead of the 2012 general election, the PLP posted billboards throughout New Providence - in areas heavily trafficked by tourists and locals - which said there had been more than 490 killings under the five-year Ingraham administration.

The PLP, then in opposition, campaigned that it had the answer to violent crime while the Ingraham administration did not. It promised that if elected it would get crime under control.

The latest homicide took place shortly after 3am on Sunday off Soldier Road.

Officer-in-charge of the Central Detective Unit, Chief Superintendent Clayton Fernander said the victim was at home with his girlfriend and their baby, when an armed man broke in demanding cash.

“Shortly after 3am, the victim who appeared to be in this 20s was at his residence with his girlfriend when a man armed with a handgun entered his home,” Chief Supt Fernander said.

“The suspect held the victim at bay and demanded cash. There was struggle and as a result the victim was shot in the chest. He died on the scene.”

The girlfriend and the baby were unharmed during the incident, police said.

Chief Supt Fernander said police have no motive at this time but they are not ruling out armed robbery.

Police have not identified the victim, but The Tribune understands he is J’Nario Feaster. Feaster celebrated his 21st birthday last week.

The first murder of the weekend took place shortly after 8am on Saturday off Carmichael Road.

According to reports, the victim was sitting on a large rock at Ferguson’s Subdivision when a man pulled up in a silver coloured Nissan Primera and shot him four times before speeding off. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have not identified the victim, but The Tribune understands he is 21-year-old Lesley Rolle.

Rolle was out on bail for armed robbery at the time of his death.

Saturday’s homicide came two days after police arrested three men in connection with the shooting death of a 32-year-old man off Scott Street. A one-year-old girl and two other men were also shoot during that incident, which occurred last Thursday. They are listed in stable condition in hospital.

With two days left in February, the number of killings so far this year has dwarfed the number of murders police recorded in the first two months of 2016. According to police statistics, there were 18 killings in the first two months of last year - eight in January and 10 in February.

The increase in murders this year prompted Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage to unveil additional crime fighting methods two weeks ago.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, Dr Nottage said with immediate effect “lockdowns” in certain areas, mobile police vans and an armed forces partnership among other things would be implemented.

He further admitted that people connected to “gangs, drugs and guns” are linked to the frequent killings.

Dr Nottage also said intelligence has suggested that there are connections between many violent incidents on the streets of New Providence and inmates at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and recently released prisoners.

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.

Investigations continue.