By DENISE MAYCOCK 

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net 

TWO men on Grand Bahama are dead and a senior immigration officer, a relative of one of the victims, is in custody assisting police with their investigation.

Police said one of the killings is classified as a murder, an unlawful killing, while the other is considered a homicide at this point. Monday’s murder pushed the country’s murder count to 24 for the year, according to The Tribune’s records.

Rasheid Gibson, 31, of Freeport, and Nicolaus John, 44, of Pinder’s Point, were both taken to hospital following a violent stabbing and shooting incident at Xanadu Beach on the evening of the Easter Monday holiday.

According to reports, Gibson was celebrating his birthday at a private beach party with family and friends. John, who was not an invited guest at the party, was confronted by Gibson and other partygoers.

Police said the uninvited guest was an “aggressor” in the matter and produced a sharp instrument. An altercation followed and Gibson was fatally stabbed. One of Gibson’s male relatives then allegedly pulled out a gun and shot John in the head. Both men were taken to the Rand Memorial Hospital.

Gibson was pronounced dead on arrival, and John, who was seen by doctors, died a short time later.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Samuel Butler confirmed that “a person of interest” is in custody assisting with the investigation, and that police are in possession of the gun, which is a legally licenced and registered firearm.

The victims’ families are said to be devastated over the tragic events that unfolded at the popular holiday beach venue. John’s sister told The Tribune that her brother was shot in front of his 11-year-old son.

According to ACP Butler, police received a call sometime around 7.35pm about an incident at Xanadu Beach.

On arrival, he said officers found an individual with a gunshot wound.

“We understand that there was a private family party celebrating a birthday for a family member, along with friends,” he said. “Some uninvited guests arrived at the scene and wanted to participate in social activity there; an argument ensued and one of the aggressors, the uninvited party, later produced an instrument and began to use it against the party host and friends. Unfortunately, the aggressor was shot and taken to hospital where he was treated, but he did not make it.”

He also reported that three other young men who sustained multiple stab wounds were also taken to hospital in a private vehicle, but that a 31-year-old male was pronounced dead on arrival.

When asked if the gun was a government service firearm, ACP Butler said that police are withholding certain information as investigations are continuing into the matter.

“We have one person of interest in our custody and are (questioning) multiple witnesses,” he said. “The classification is a homicide and murder that we are now investigating.

“The difference in the classification is that a homicide is investigating a killing of a human by another human being, and the murder classification is when we recognise at all state it has no level of authority or direction to cause it to happen,” ACP Butler explained.

“In terms of classification, we are still early in our investigations, but we have four murders (in Grand Bahama this year) and we will classify one of the incidents last night as a homicide – five persons would have died in instances (here) to date,” he said.

Although police described John as an “agressor,” Celiann John-Grant, John’s sister, said she and her sisters are very saddened over her brother’s death, however she admitted he was not a saint. 

She received a call around 8pm on Monday from her sister about her brother’s death.

“She told me that (John) had just gotten shot and had died, but I found out he did not die on the spot,” said Ms John-Grant. “We are very disheartened.”

Ms John-Grant identified her brother’s body on Tuesday morning. She said that he had been stabbed about the body and was shot in the head.

Ms John-Grant said that her brother was a fisherman all his life.

“My sisters are not dealing with this too well because we know the life ‘Nacca’ lived, but this situation was far from it. He never done this and he don’t hang with young boys. He goes to his job and so this sort of thing is a first. God knows everything and all we can say to him is take your rest,” she said.