Father of two killed in armed robbery in Gambier Village

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

DON Saunders was looking forward to a week-end of catching up with his foster brothers and father — a ritual for him before marking Easter at St Christopher’s Anglican Church — when he was shot and killed in a yard on Margaret Road in Gambier Village last night.

Hours before he shockingly became the 35th murder victim of the year, the former Tall Pines MP and deputy speaker of the House of Assembly went about his life as usual: attending court, visiting the bank and conversing with friends and loved ones like Anglican Archdeacon Keith Cartwright, the foster father who raised him in Exuma since he was 12.

Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said Saunders was among a group of about five or six people hanging out in a yard when two masked gunmen showed up and tried to rob them of cash. People panicked and scat- teredindifferentdirections, but only Saunders was shot.

Saunders had a teen daughter, Danielle, an ath- lete in the United States, and a teen son, Don Jr, an athlete on the upcoming Carifta swimming team, according to Archdeacon Cartwright, who raised Saunders when the lawyer encountered family issues as a boy.

Saunders also leaves behind his twin brother and his mother, who was heading to Andros for the weekend when she turned around upon hearing the news of her son’s death.

Many Free National Movement members were on the murder scene last night, including former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, FNM leader Michael Pintard, deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright, Adrian Gibson and former MPs like Elsworth Johnson, Marvin Dames, Darren Henfield, and Travis Robinson.

One man cried and yelled, “that’s my brother”. A woman fell out after crying.

In a post on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis expressed sadness over the incident. At the murder scene, Dr Minnis said Saunders made valuable contributions to public life as an MP under his term.

Father Cartwright said Saunders was among 33 foster children he cared for over some time.

“We always have a gathering of the family, all of my boys who are here with their wives, on Good Friday,” he said, hours after encountering Saunders at Royal Bank of Canada on Cable Beach, where he had a lengthy conversation with him. “We were going to do that, and then we were going to have something for Easter Monday.”