No homicides record in Antigua for the first quarter of 2023
The year 2023 has started positively for Antigua and Barbuda, where homicides are concerned.
For the first time in at least the last three years, the country has recorded zero murders in the first quarter of the year.
From 2019-2021, there was at least one killing noted by the second month of the year.
Also of note, in 2022, there were 50 percent fewer incidents of murder than in 2021.
In 2021, a whopping 16 murders took place in Antigua, which has a population of about 100,000 people.
In 2022, there were only eight incidents of murder, but in two instances, two persons were murdered at the same time, making the total number of persons killed 10.
Here’s a recap of homicides in the Twin island for 2022:
- Allan Dowdie
Forty-nine-year-old Dowdie was gunned down on February 10, 2022, while standing under a shed outside the Clare Hall Secondary School.
The incident occurred shortly after 4 pm, and about two hours later, a medical doctor arrived on the scene and pronounced him dead.
No one has been charged with this killing.
- Christopher Smithers
On March 1, 2022, 36-year-old Christopher Smithers of Friars Hill Development was stabbed to death allegedly by Berle Adolphus Nathaniel Wallace Jr, who is now on remand for the crime.
According to reports, Smithers and Wallace Jr were involved in an altercation on St John’s Street at around 6:23 pm, during which Wallace Jr armed himself with a sharp object and stabbed Smithers.
Smithers was then rushed to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre (SLBMC) for emergency treatment but succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at approximately 6:45 pm.
- Jonathan Manley
It is said that sometime around 9:30 pm on Saturday, 14 May 2022, an unknown assailant went to the home of Manley,36, and shot him multiple times while he was sitting outside his house.
He was taken to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre by EMS, where he succumbed to his injuries. A medical doctor pronounced him dead at 10:14 pm.
The identity of the shooter has not yet been discovered.
- St. Claire David
It was reported that sometime between 5:40 and 6 pm on July 4, 2022, the 34-year-old deceased was standing at a particular place at Skerritts Pasture when two male suspects exited a vehicle and shot at him.
He sustained what is believed to be a gunshot wound to his upper body and was transported to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre by the Emergency Medical Services.
He was pronounced dead around 6:56 pm.
This murder is yet to be solved.
- Tyrone Sylvester Baptiste and his wife, Pia Baptiste
Sixty-four-year-old Tyrone and his wife 61-year-old wife Pia were found dead in their Golden Grove residence with multiple wounds on their bodies on 20th July 2022
Neighbours say that they heard explosions around 4:30 am that morning.
Investigators say both victims were found with gunshot wounds, and the husband also had a knife wound.
It is unclear how many assailants had entered the house, and so far, efforts to find the perpetrators have proven futile.
- Cesar Santos Ramirez and Rodolfo Emmanuel Sandoval Stone
Thirty-nine-year-old Rodolfo Sandoval Stone and 36-year-old Cesar Santos Ramirez were fatally shot at Pillar Rock last September 7, 2022.
It was reported that one of the men was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his body.
The second man, who had earlier been reported missing, was later found dead in a pool with multiple gunshot wounds to his body as well.
Both men reportedly held management positions at a leading local resort.
No one has been arrested for these killings.
- Reuben Williams
Williams was stabbed to death in his Bendals home on Christmas Day.
He was reportedly discovered by his neighbour lying on his living room floor in a pool of blood.
A bag of groceries which he was reportedly seen walking home with, was found on his front steps
His house key was also said to have been left on his door knob.
This murder has not been solved.
- Kevin Roacher
This 29-year-old was found shot in the driver’s seat of his motor vehicle on December 31, 2022, at Sir Sydney Walling Highway.
The police at first explored the theory that Roacher had been killed as a result of a traffic accident, but that theory has since been abandoned.
Roacher was driving a Toyota Corolla near the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium when he crashed into a bus.
It was soon discovered that he had been shot once in the chest, and a spent shell was found vehicle’s passenger side.
Reports suggest that another man ran from the car following the crash.
The investigation is still ongoing.
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