(Eleuthera, Bahamas) – A Haitian male was airlifted to New Providence suffering from a gunshot wound to the face/neck at about 7:30pm on Tuesday evening, June 9th. The man was reportedly one of a number of illegal immigrants authorities attempted to apprehend at a residence in Palmetto Point earlier in the afternoon.
According to police:
At about 3:05pm on Tuesday, June 9th, 2015, acting on information, Police and Immigration officers proceeded to a residence off Queen’s Highway in Palmetto Point, in reference to seven irregular immigrants. According to reports, upon arrival the officers met three females and one male in front of the residence. An officer asked them to produce documentation, while other officers went into the interior of the residence.
Reportedly, the male accosted one of the officers and attempted to disarm him, and reports say the service issued firearm discharged.
Another officer assisted during the struggle, and it was reported that he discharged his weapon. The suspect was then said to have fled into nearby bushes before being recaptured. Reports say that it was noted at that time that blood was coming from his face.
The injured male was then placed in the back of a police truck along with another officer. It was said, that the male escaped once again, jumping into bushes.
According to Police, the male later went to the Governor’s Harbour Clinic where a suspected entry/exit wound was discovered on the left side of his face, as well a fractured left shoulder. Police said the suspect was alert and conscious at this time, and air evacuation was summoned and expected to arrive on island between 6:30pm and 7:30pm this evening.
Solivia Fox, President of the Haitian Bahamian association in Central and South Eleuthera commented that witnesses she spoke with say the injured man sustained his wounds while running away from officers who were attempting to apprehend him. She confirmed that to the best of her knowledge the injured man and two other women detained at the residence were in the country illegally and officers had the right to apprehend them but she took objection to witnesses claim that the male (reportedly in his late 20’s) was shot, in the back of the head. “I have no problem with anyone trying to get any of the illegal immigrants but when it comes to shooting a person, especially from back on and he’s not fighting you or anything like that, he didn”t have any weapon on him, its wrong”, she commented. “To me that’s dead wrong.”
Fox also confirmed that the photo below does show the wound suffered by the victim. Other pictures not posted show blood coming from his face.
Injured man being boarded on to an air-ambulance shortly before it took off from Governor’s Harbour airport destined for New Providence
