guns

A former teacher of a man who was killed in an alleged accidental shooting over the weekend expressed fond memories of the victim.

Cleveland Ramsey who served as a principal and teacher in the Ministry of Education said Lavardo Fernander “was one of them in whom I was well pleased.”

“During my 19 years in education and 13 of my last years as principal, I have been afforded the opportunity to teach and help mold many outstanding men who are now making their contributions in their own unique ways in the Bahamas. Lavardo Ferguson was one of them.”

Ferguson, 37 was killed while enjoying a day with friends shooting canisters. A coworker’s BB-gun reportedly discharged while he was clearing the weapon and Ferguson was struck to his upper body and died on the scene.

“He was a hardworking young man who was destined for greatness,” Ramsey said of the married father of five children.

Another teacher Denise Hope said Ferguson was a “very respectful young man.”

Ferguson was expected to move to Eleuthera to begin a new job before the tragedy struck and cousin Valentino Williams remains shocked at his death since the two were just planning their birthdays in the Berry Island where they grew up and schooled.

After schooling, Ferguson worked as a boat captain, carpenter and cook.

Police said they are investigating the circumstances of his death and are questioning the 27-year-old coworker in regard to the alleged accident. But Ferguson’s mother Michelle Aranha told the Nassau Guardian that someone should be held accountable.

“They are saying it is an accident, but how can an accident cost me a child that I had for 37 years, leaving behind five children?… What is an accident going to do for them to be taken care of?

“But you can’t accidentally kill my son and just expect nothing to come out of it. That’s not fair to nobody.”

Deaths by BB guns are unusual in the Bahamas but Ferguson’s death proved fatal even though the rifle does not have the power of an automatic weapon.

Prosecutors will charge actor Alec Baldwin with two counts of involuntary manslaughter after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on set in 2021.

“I have determined that there is sufficient evidence,” Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said.

“On my watch, no one is above the law and everyone deserves justice.”

The big story

Baldwin was reportedly rehearsing a scene for the film Rust when the gun he held fired off, killing Hutchins. But he denied shooting Hutchins though he held the fatal weapon gun that fired off and hit the actress.

At the time he said, “I don’t know what happened on that set. I don’t know how that bullet arrived in that gun.”

The film’s armourer Hanna Gutierrez-Reed will also face charges.

Policy is that only cold guns should be onset–guns without bullets. It should have been checked and used as a prop only.

Baldwin served as the film’s executive producer.

The bus driver killed on Tuesday during his routine drive has been identified as 32-year-old Giovanni Lafleur.

Lafleur made a stop on his number 15 bus on Florida Court, Robinson Road, to allow passengers to exit when the suspect got up from his seat and approached the driver and shot him in the head.

The driver died on the scene.

A 16-year-old boy sustained injuries during the ordeal and was hospitalized.

Who was Giovanni Lafleur?

• Lafleur was arraigned in Magistrate’s Court in 2015 for the murder of Luternier Excelus.
• He was also charged with the attempted murder of three others: Stephon Bastian, Denario Andrews and Frederick Morley.
• Court documents say Lafleur shot Excelus while he played a game of dominoes on Matthew Street, Nassau Village. He pulled up with other occupants in a red Kia jeep and fired gunshots into the group. Excelus was shot in the left side of his chest and died.
• Lafleur then with other men on the same night, shot into another group of men standing on Butler Street, Nassau Village, wounding the three men.
• It took nearly a month before he was caught after an islandwide manhunt.

In a video, the 16-year-old injured during the shooting is seen holding his head with a bloodied white shirt as blood drips down his back. He hits the bus window on the driver’s side of the bus and shouts to Lafleur, “Wake up bey.”

Police are asking anyone with information to contact CDU at 502-9991/2.