2 MEN SLAIN

Homicide detectives were kept busy on the weekend as two men were gunned down in separate incidents, the third killing in four days.{{more}}

The men killed on the weekend were survivors of earlier gun attacks, which reports suggest were part of separate, on-going feuds.

And Commissioner of Police Keith Miller told SEARCHLIGHT on Saturday that people should not take comfort in illegal guns or seek vigilante justice.

He further urged residents of St Vincent and the Grenadines to use the courts or arbitration to settle their differences.

“You do not have to take up a firearm or any weapon, or any instrument, as a matter of fact, take the law into your own hands and committing, in this case, a very serious offence — the offence of a killing, a murder,” he said, as police conducted initial investigations into the death of Evan Lynch, 38, who was killed in Layou on Saturday.

On Sunday, Uroy “Laybay” Robinson, 24, was killed at Walvaroo, Sion Hill, around 8 p.m.

Miller further told SEARCHLIGHT that people should hand in illegal firearms to the police.

“Because we are seeing what is happening, with the possession of illegal firearms; it is leading to people getting into serious trouble. So, it is no comfort to persons having an illegal firearm.”

The police chief, who recently attended a United Nations Arms Trade Treaty negotiations meeting in New York, said the flow of illegal firearms into the Caribbean is a major concern.

“If you look at the stats in the Caribbean, a lot of our killings in the Caribbean is by way of the illegal firearms,” he said.

Of the 19 homicides this year, guns were used in six cases, while 10 of the 20 people killed last year were shot, according to police statistics. Guns were used in nine of the 25 homicides in 2010.

Miller said light weapons, small arms, and ammunition area major issue for the region.

The region’s participation in the UN negotiations “is to show our concern about the flow of illegal weapons into the Caribbean, including St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Miller further said.

“We are feeling the effects of the use of these illegal weapons. St Vincent is a small place. The thought of the use of a firearm sends trauma throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines, hence the reason to reinforce the call for young men not to find any comfort in the possession of an unlicensed firearm.

“The result thereof is trouble. The result thereof is the urge to take the law into their own hands and what happens, someone either gets seriously injured or killed. And family are suffering; friends are suffering and it is a serious breach of our laws,” Miller further said.

The deaths on the weekend followed the discovery of the body of Calvert “Boom Shack” Patterson, a 48-year-old taxi driver of Layou, at Argyle on Wednesday. Patterson had wounds to the head and face. (kentonchance@searchlgiht.vc)