FREEPORT, Grand Bahama ﾖ A search was underway on Monday for the man police believe was involved in the islandﾴs ninth murder for the year ﾖ the third in four weeks for the settlement of Eight Mile Rock.
Dead is Bobby Penn, 36, of Abaco, whom authorities said was stabbed to death Sunday night while visiting his family in Hanna Hill.
Investigators were in search of Erzrin Green, who is reportedly between 20 to 25 years old, and is believed to be connected to the homicide.
At about 9:58 p.m. police received a call from Deno Smith of Hanna Hill who said his brother, Bobby, had been stabbed and was lying on the ground bleeding in the area of Jack Smith Corner, according to authorities.
Police said several officers from the Eight Mile Rock police station traveled to the scene where they found Penn with two deep stab wounds ﾖ one to the chest, the other to his lower left abdomen.
An ambulance was dispatched to the scene and transported Penn to the Rand Memorial Hospital where police said he succumbed to his injuries at 10:50 p.m.
Based on preliminary information obtained by investigators, authorities said the killing might be linked to an altercation Penn and the suspect in this case were involved in a few weeks ago.
When asked by the Bahama Journal how police are viewing the latest spate of murders in the islandﾴs largest settlement, Chief Superintendent of Police Basil Rahming attributed the cases to conflicts between the victims and their accused killers.
“These [past three] incidents donﾴt appear to be connected in any way,” he said. “They are incidents of rage or persons who canﾴt resolve conflict among themselves.
“The police in Eight Mile Rock [will] need to be more proactive and start making the public aware as best they can how to resolve conflict without persons resorting to violence,” he added.
Authorities said two of the murder victims in Eight Mile Rock were stabbed to death and the other shot to death.
Mr. Rahming said in at least one and in possibly two of the cases, the motives for the killing centered around personal vendettas.
Last week, Charles Tameko Grant, 26, was shot to death in Eight Mile Rock and back on May 13, Wisco Jean Baptiste, 22, was stabbed to death.
Suspects have since been arrested and formally charged in both cases.
At just over the midpoint of 2005, the island is one murder short of matching the 10 homicides reported in all of 2004.
All of the victims in last yearﾴs homicides were men. All but one of the victims in this yearﾴs homicides are men.
Of the nine homicides committed in 2005, police were in search of suspects in two of those cases.
Earlier this year, police said Grand Bahama had showed a decrease in violent crime for 2004 compared to the year before.
Police said there were 15 homicides committed in 2003.
That number included the islandﾴs missing boys whom authorities said had been murdered.
Sharon Williams, The Bahama Journal
