A number of crimes in Anguilla over the past year and a half have been committed using the same weapons, Commissioner of Police Robert Clark has revealed.
The head of the Royal Anguilla Police Force made the disclosure during a government press conference on 12 January, during which he addressed a recent spike in violent crime.
A media question about how many guns had been confiscated during his tenure prompted him to discuss the apparent reuse of weapons on the island.
“Through forensic analysis that we’ve done over the last 18 months, I can see a cyclical pattern where the same weapons are used in different incidents,” he said.
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He explained: “I can tell what type of weapon was used through a different forensic method than actually having the weapon.”
Clark said while the force has not found these specific guns, several others have been recovered thanks to tip-offs from the public.
“People have said something is somewhere, and I’ve went and got it,” he said, adding that he did not have the exact number of weapons confiscated on hand but would retrieve the statistics.
The police chief’s comments came following the violent deaths of Romaine Ovardo Carby and Clashawn Gumbs within just three days.
The body of Carby, aged 35 from South Hill, was discovered in a yard near a burnt-out car just after 6am on Wednesday, 7 January.
Krishna Baijnauth appeared before the Magistrate’s Court on 12 January facing charges of murder and arson and has been remanded to prison.
Gumbs, 19, of Blowing Point died after being shot multiple times on Rendezvous Drive in Blowing Point sometime before 9.46am on Saturday, 10 January.
The Royal Anguilla Police Force is offering a reward of up to US$10,000 for information leading to a conviction.
Anyone with information can call police on 911, (264) 497-2333 or 497-5333, or leave an anonymous message, video or photo at secureaxa.com
Information from the website is stored in a secure location in California where access to it is tightly controlled.
