Police are investigating a firearms incident that took place on Ord Road in Paget yesterday — just 24 hours after four men were injured in a drive-by shooting in Pembroke.

Police have been unable to provide details of the latest shooting — the tenth in the last three months — but said they did not believe anyone was injured in the incident.

In an update on Thursday’s shooting, police confirmed that two of the victims are still on hospital having undergone surgery, one of whom remains in a critical condition.

Commissioner of Police Darrin Simons confirmed that officers were aware of “ongoing gang tensions” and said three earlier gun incidents were "most likely“ linked.

He urged members of the public to provide any relevant information after the daylight attack at Middle Town Lane in Pembroke shortly after 2pm, Thursday.

That shooting marked the ninth confirmed firearms incident of 2024, and came in the wake of shots being fired on Parsons Road by the junction with Rambling Lane last Sunday.

Providing an update, Detective Chief Inspector Derricka Burns said that when officers arrived at the scene, one victim was found with gunshot wounds “to the lower extremities of his body”.

She added that inquiries revealed that three others — all men — had been shot and were receiving treatment at the hospital for gunshot wounds.

Ms Burns said: “We had two — a 22-year-old and a 21-year-old male — that have been treated and released at this time.

“There are two others that have received surgery and in the hospital, as we speak, one is in critical condition in the ICU.”

The detective added that the investigation was still in its early stages, but it was believed people were socialising outside a residence on Middle Town Lane “when a gunman showed up and opened fire”.

She appealed for information about a motorcycle with two people on it, which was seen in the area of Parsons Road.

She added: “Unfortunately, we have been unable to recover any CCTV in the general area where it occurred.”

Ms Burns could not confirm whether there were other people in the immediate area beyond the four men injured.

Mr Simons said: “In the past several months our community has experienced nine shootings that injured five persons.

“Three of these incidents happened this past week. This is deeply worrying.”

On April 26, an “attempted shooting” happened when a man was sitting in a parked car on Alexandra Road, Devonshire. He escaped without injury.

Asked if the last four shootings were related, Mr Simons said: “There is ongoing gang tensions and there most likely is some form of connection between the incidents.”

Mr Simons said he appreciated the anxiety and unease they caused.

He said people’s reluctance to come forward for fear of retaliation, coupled with the island’s “culture of no snitching” hampered the police’s work.

“It’s incomprehensible that people would choose ‘no snitching’ over the lives of family, friends and the community. We must become a collective force against those who seek to undermine our safety and shared values.”

Chief Inspector Robert Cardwell said there would be “a heightened police presence” in several “hotspots” identified across the island.

Mr Cardwell said police would act with “integrity, compassion, courtesy and patience, showing neither fear nor favour, in what we do”.

He added that police would be “highly proactive this weekend and going forward”, using the least coercive measures possible to “maximise safety”.

Michael Weeks, the Minister of National Security, issued another plea for witnesses to come forward.

Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday during the Motion to Adjourn, Mr Weeks said: “These recent incidents that have plagued our streets and neighbourhoods – I must reiterate that they’re not just statistics and headlines. These are things that leave our families shattered.”

Mr Weeks said he was at the scene of Thursday’s shooting and then went to the hospital where the four victims had been taken.

He said: “The mothers stood out to me. I saw at least three mothers standing outside, not knowing the fate of their sons.

“That really took me aback, when I saw that, because a lot of times we talk about statistics, we talk about numbers, we talk about gangs, but the impact that these incidents leave on families and their loved ones … I can’t even explain the feeling I had.

“So, I stand today to appeal to our community that we can’t afford to turn a blind eye to this, or shrug our shoulders dismissing these incidents as someone else’s problem.

“We have to stop sheltering the perpetrators of these heinous acts, stop making excuses for them, and realise that nobody is safe.

“We must come together. This is more than just a talking thing. These perpetrators are not sleeping out in the bush – someone’s housing them.”

“We were down Middle Town, and nobody had nothing to say. People pulled me aside and said ‘what are you people going to do?’ but nobody had nothing to say.

“My response is, ‘well what are we going to do as a community? We’re in this together’.”

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