By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net3

THE man accused of pulling a gun on a woman outside a Prince Charles Drive nightclub is a serving Royal Bahamas Defence Force officer, the RBDF has confirmed.

Meanwhile, the woman says she still has not gotten back the iPhone she alleges a police officer took from her after she filmed the confrontation.

RBDF officials confirmed the man’s status and said police were still in the early stages of their investigation. They said the legitimacy of the weapon and the circumstances of the incident were being examined.

Possible charges could include possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Alphonique Strachan, 27, told The Tribune yesterday that her phone had still not been returned. She said she was advised to lodge a complaint about it with the police Complaints and Corruption Branch, and that she filed a report on Tuesday.

When contacted by The Tribune, police would not confirm whether Ms Strachan had lodged a complaint or give an update on her phone.

Ms Strachan said the confrontation happened around 2am on Monday outside 316 Bar and Lounge and left her fearing for her life. She said trouble started inside the club when her male friend danced with the armed man’s girlfriend, and the two men began arguing.

As she walked to her car, she said, the man got out of a jeep with a gun and threatened to blow her head and her friend’s head off.

Videos of the confrontation have circulated widely on social media. In one, the armed man is seen holding a gun while shouting at Ms Strachan. He then walks to a jeep and puts the weapon inside before continuing the confrontation. Ms Strachan is heard saying: “You pull a gun on me.”

The footage also shows Ms Strachan confronting a uniformed police officer who was on duty in the area. She asks him why he let the man leave after she told him a gun had been pulled on her.

Ms Strachan accuses that officer of letting the armed man drive away without searching his jeep, and of taking her iPhone after she recorded the incident. She said he told her to collect the phone from the police station. She was able to recover the recordings because her iPhone automatically synced them to her iPad through iCloud, and she shared several clips on Facebook.

She first identified the armed man as an off-duty police officer. The Royal Bahamas Police Force later said he was not a serving member of the force. Its statement said the woman claimed an officer had intervened to de-escalate the situation. It did not address her allegations that the officer let the armed man leave or took her phone.

Ms Strachan said she first tried to report the incident at Elizabeth Estates Police Station but was sent to Fox Hill Police Station because of jurisdiction concerns. She said she arrived at Fox Hill around 4am and showed the recordings to a senior officer.

She alleged that the senior officer questioned the on-duty officer’s handling of the matter after watching the footage and asked why he had not filed a report. According to Ms Strachan, the on-duty officer described the weapon as a “pumper”. She said the senior officer told him the armed man was holding a semi-automatic gun and could be seen “clear as day” in the footage.