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Police: Barber shop murder was gang related

Murder victim: Joshua Robinson

Police have confirmed the barbershop murder of Joshua Robinson, 31, was a gang related premeditated murder and that a suspect arrested for questioning has since been released.The Saturday shooting that occurred in broad daylight at Jason's Barber Shop on North Shore, in Pembroke, sent shock waves throughout the community. But for the Robinson family this latest tragedy stirred up “bad emotions” all over again.Joshua Robinson is the cousin of the late Kenwandee (Wheels) Robinson who was gunned down on St Monica's Road in Pembroke on May 22, 2009.In an interview with The Royal Gazette Mr Robinson's mother tearfully recounted how her son's murder “stirred up all those bad feelings all over again”.“I've been through this before, now it's happening all over again,” she said quietly, still mortified by her son's death. “These young people need to find God now more than ever.”Another close relative said: “We have lost two relatives in the same way, the gun, and at the end of the day no one wants this to happen to anyone.“Friends from the neighbourhood are dying without any resolvement in the cases and it is really hard to fathom how this can be going on without questions being answered. We will miss both Joshua and Kenwandee,” he said.“Obviously this is another matter that has hit the family hard and although words can't explain the true feelings we have, now is the time that we need to reflect on Joshua as a father and friend, not just a family member.”To date no charges have been laid for the murder of Kenwandee Robinson, who was 27 when he was killed as a result of “bad blood” between two rival gangs. His murder was the first to spark “this whole cycle of tit-for-tat shootings off”.Detective Chief Inspector Nicholas Pedro who is heading up this latest murder investigation was also assigned to the Kenwandee Robinson case which also occurred in broad daylight.Mr Robinson's best friend Michael (Mikey) Adams was also shot when two men wearing helmets with dark full-face visors rode past them as they sat by the roadside.The pillion passenger sprayed bullets, Mr Adams despite being injured desperately tried to help his dying friend. This newspaper reported last August that Mr Adams has since recovered and was understood to have left the island.Yesterday Superintendent Antoine Daniels and Chief Insp Pedro “expressed sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Joshua Robinson”.“This weekend's shooting demonstrates the negative impact a single incident has on the community as a whole, especially when we consider Mr Robinson was a young man who was in the prime of his life, a father, son, brother and friend,” said Supt Daniels.“We recognise that often there are increased levels of concern and anxiety within the community when senseless acts like this occur, especially when you couple this with the regularity of these firearms incidents since 2009.“However, we remain committed to identifying the persons responsible for carrying out these senseless & violent acts and will continue our robust approach to targeting guns, gangs and antisocial behaviour,” he said.Chief Insp Pedro said: “Detectives have spoken with witnesses what were inside the shop at the time of the murder, and also with persons in the immediate area.”“We are still very much interested in speaking with people who may have seen anything of note in the area of the shooting either before, at, or after the actual time of the shooting.“The perpetrators often take steps to conceal their identity but for what its worth, they were wearing dark coloured clothing with dark coloured helmets and tinted visors. The bike was either silver or dark in colour, a step through cycle,” he said.He also confirmed that a motorcycle was seized in the Spanish Point area over the weekend. “We've taken a bike, it's undetermined as to whether or not it's related to the investigation at this point. But a number of items have been seized already and that is just one of them.“Through the process of elimination we'll make a quick determination as to whether or not the actual cycle is linked to this investigation. Right now we're leaning towards the fact that it's not,” he said.When asked to respond to the public outcry for a ban on helmets with dark full face visors, Supt Daniels noted “the position has nothing to do with the police”.“It is a legislative matter. We wish we could appeal to the vendors of them to not bring them in, but as we look at it now it's any individual's rights to wear those visors. It is causing us some obvious harm because as we call them a lot of the gangsters are using the visors to not only commit shootings but other crimes, robberies and the like.“The visors are causing us some problems, but if we get rid of the dark visors and they want to continue these shootings then they're going to find methods to do it,” he said.“The police are doing their best to minimise the risk by having more high visibility with police officers on the street. We just trained up some more firearm officers so we now have an increased capacity.“But when we have to look to a lot of our social issues when the youngsters are glamorising firearms, and gangs and rap music as opposed to family, church, sports and education this is what we're left with.“It's a community problem and until we address we will continue to have these issues. Unless we come together and fight as one then we're going to find that we may be dealing with this more in the future which we're hoping doesn't happen; one shooting is too much,” he added.Chief Insp Pedro said: “There have been some challenges with this case but we've had good cooperation from the people who were there. There's people out there who know something and they should come forward if they have a conscience.“This is a man who had a family irrespective of whatever his background may have been. He has people grieving for him in this community.”Members of the Serious Crime Unit can be contacted directly on 247-1340, 247-1739 or the main police number 295-0011. There is also the confidential and independent Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-8477 (TIPS).

Chief Inspector Nicholas Pedro, flanked by Superintendent Antoine Daniels, speaks at a press conference regarding Saturday’s fatal shooting at Jason's Barber Shop.
Three candles have been placed in the door way of Jason's Barber Shop on North Shore Road, Pembroke, as a memorial for Joshua Robinson who was murdered there on Saturday.
Three candles have been placed in the door way of Jason's Barber Shop on North Shore Road, Pembroke, as a memorial for Joshua Robinson who was murdered there on Saturday.