BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO separate mid-morning fights in downtown Basseterre have left many onlookers questioning their origin and purpose, while some individuals perceived them to be gang-related.
The first fight occurred at the junction of Fort and Central Streets at about 10:00 a.m. on Monday (Aug. 10) between a young man from Monkey Hill and another, whom bystanders claimed resides in McKnight.
According to the Monkey Hill resident, he was responding to a telephone call while in the vicinity of The Polo Company on Fort Street when he was attacked.
“I was speaking to my girlfriend on the phone when a man walked up and slapped me across my face and said, ‘Who you talking to on de phone?’ I don’t know the fella and I aint going take no slap from anybody without retaliating. So, I decided to fight with him, but the coward picked up a block and hit me on my right wrist, which caused it to be bruised.”
As two police officers were seen approaching the scene, the attacker fled west along Central Street. The victim reported the matter to them and, on arrival of two more officers, he was placed in a car and together he and the officers went in search of the perpetrator, whom he claimed he would recognise if seen.
SKNVibes this afternoon contacted a senior officer at the Basseterre Police Station to find out if the perpetrator was found, but was told that he is unaware of the incident.
The second incident occurred this morning (Aug. 12) on Fort Street in front of Domino’s Pizza at approximately the same time as the first one.
This fight, according to an eyewitness [on the condition of anonymity], had involved two gang members - “one from East Side and the other from West Side”.
“One man attacked the other with an ice pick but he did not get the opportunity to inflict any injury. This incident occurred while three police officers were in the vicinity. They were armed with ticket books looking for traffic violators. One of the officers held the unarmed man and led him away from the scene towards Cayon Street, while the armed man went in the opposite direction without a police officer in pursuit. I guess the officers were taking all necessary precautionary measures,” the eyewitness said.
Another eyewitness declared that there is an ongoing war between gangs from the East Side and the West Side, and it would escalate if “something is not done to quell the feud”.
The eyewitness posited it is a known fact that gang members from the East cannot enter the West and vice versa, but at some point in time members from either side would encounter each other in downtown Basseterre and “blood will flow if the authorities fail to arrest the situation”.
