Former Parliamentarian Donald Saunders was shot and killed on Wednesday night in what appears to be a botched robbery in Gambier.
What happened?
Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander said Saunders, Deputy Chairman of the Free National Movement was one of six patrons sitting outside of a community bar after 9 pm, when two gunmen demanded cash.
The patrons fled and the gunmen fired their weapons.
The other five patrons soon realized Saunders was not with them. They then returned to the scene and found him lying face down outside of the establishment, with a gunshot wound to the back. When police officers arrived on the scene, he had already succumbed.
The big picture
The year began with worrying crime trends, spilling over from 2023, spurring loud calls from the Opposition and citizens alike for the government to amend laws in hopes of curtailing the surging homicide rate and implementing stringent measures against criminals.
The RBPF has maintained that most murders in the country are gang retaliation and some people’s unwillingness to resolve conflicts. But Saunder’s murder, the 35th for the year, is a rare occurrence since politicians in the Bahamas are not often victims of homicides.
His killing rocked the country as the government and the RBPF continue to grapple with this crime wave and ways to prevent further mayhem by gun violence.
Thirty-five murders from January to March is a startling figure since it is only the first quarter of the year and could spell a troubling pattern for the remainder of 2024.
Though homicides are mostly concentrated in New Providence, Gambier lies farther west of the capital, is a rather quiet community, and is sparsely populated.
Saunders, a lawyer, won the Tall Pines seat in the 2017 general election, becoming a Member of Parliament until 2021 in the Hubert Minnis administration. He then served as the deputy speaker of the House of Assembly during his party’s period in office.
He was also a counsel in the ongoing Adrian Gibson fraud and bribery trial.
What FNM Party Leader Michael Pintard is saying
Free National Movement Leader Michael Pintard with other party members arrived on the scene in shock, looking on as Saunders’ body was placed in the hearse. He said, “We are trusting that the system is going to work and appealing to Bahamians, everyone who can contribute to bringing justice for him and literally the hundreds of Bahamians who have lost their lives, whose matters have not yet been resolved.”