Police investigate St Kitts first murder for 2009

A record 23 people were killed in the twin-island republic last year and Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas said that he hoped that last month’s resumption of hangings would act as a deterrent to others.

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, January 12, 2009 – Police in St Kitts are investigating the first murder of the year.

Just 10 days into the start of the New Year, Isimba Bradley, 17, was shot as he was walking with another man along Central Street, in the capital Basseterre, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
  
According to police reports, it was around 12:40 am when an armed man opened fire on the former Basseterre High School student and his friend. Bradley was hit, but continued to run a short distance before he collapsed and died in nearby Fort Street

A suspect was shot and injured by police during a subsequent chase.

A record 23 people were killed in the twin-island republic last year and Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas said that he hoped that last month’s resumption of hangings would act as a deterrent to others.

After 10 years of not carrying out the death penalty, authorities in St Kitts executed Charles Elroy Laplace on December 19th for the February 2006 murder of his wife.