By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE grieving mother of 32-year-old Patrickedo Rose, who was shot and killed on Monday, said despite her son’s criminal past she believes he was a “good person” in the end.

A distraught Wendy Knowles told The Tribune yesterday that her son had spent time in prison before, but eventually started making an honest living for himself when he was released.

According to police, Mr Rose was one of two men who were shot dead Monday night at Fox Hill Park. Mr Rose had been in and out of the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services and, according to authorities, was out on bail for several murders.

Officer-in-charge of the Criminal Investigation Department Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson said the man on bail was being monitored at the time, but the other victim was not known to police.

Chief Supt Johnson told reporters at the scene that sometime around 8.45pm police received information of gunshots being discharged in the area of the Fox Hill park.

Ms Knowles was emotional as she remembered a gentler side of her son compared to others who knew him from his past.

“He was a good person,” she told The Tribune. “He had his ways and I had my ways too. But if you got to know him, he was really a good person.”

Asked how she was notified that her son was killed, Ms Knowles said she received a dreadful phone call that he had been shot, but was still alive.

“When I got the news, they didn’t say he was dead, they said he had been shot,” she recalled.

“I said okay I’m coming (to the scene) and then someone else called and he said he was dead.”

During the interview, the victim’s mother said she doesn’t know what happened on the night of her son’s death. She and her son did not live  in the same house.

Just recently, she said, she had taken Mr Rose to his job, as she said he was working tirelessly to make a stable income.

The victim left behind a son.

The double killing marked the 16th and 17th murders of the year, according to this newspaper’s records.

Last week, with repeated pledges to take policing to “another level,” Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said he intends to reduce the country’s murder count below 100.

Commissioner Fernander revealed his 2023 policing plan at a press conference where he outlined six key priorities to impact crime trends.

 He reiterated that police are focused on maintaining law and order, preserving the peace, preventing and detecting crime, apprehending offenders, and enforcing the law.

 The commissioner noted that this year, and specifically the month of March, police will “flood the streets” in an effort to upset crime trends and tackle gun violence in the country.

Police said they are following significant leads into the Fox Hill murders. Four men who are regarded as “persons of interest” in the investigation were arrested yesterday.

Officers attached to the Criminal Investigations Department are questioning the suspects who range between the ages of 18 to 25, police said.

Police added that they are conducting active enquiries into this incident and will provide further updates as they become available.