By Peter Polack

The last few years has witnessed an upsurge in mass shooting events across the Caribbean especially in the British Overseas Territories leaving police baffled and resources stretched or shared.

The most recent mass killing took place at a bar in the Turks and Caicos Islands last month in which three persons were killed and ten injured. The UK has responded by deploying Cayman policemen and a helicopter to help battle a crime wave long in the making.

The Cayman Islands also felt the heat when seven persons were shot last year in a football stadium during a match held in the new Premier’s constituency.

This is a clear regional issue with similar high casualty single shooting events recently as follows:

Five killed Trinidad December 2024

Eight killed nine injured Jamaica 2024

Four killed eight injured Trinidad May 2024

Five killed Trinidad March 2024

Four killed Trinidad March 2024

Five killed St.Vincent and the Grenadines 2023

One killed five wounded Cayman Islands 2021

While not a complete list, this assessment provides a clear indication of a trend without end in the Caribbean as the authorities struggle for a realistic answer.

Jamaica, Trinidad and now Turks and Caicos Island have grabbed for states of emergency and security zones like a drowning man for a straw, with the same result.

The then minister, now Premier of the Cayman Islands, was publicly asked after the stadium shooting several questions about the mass shooting some of which which will resonate in every Caribbean country.

Does the Minister acknowledge that finding the stadium shooter and spending the CI$250,000 reward will not stop gang violence in the Cayman Islands.

Will the Minister disclose his intervention programs for at risk youth in his constituency.

Will the Minister disclose his intervention programs for at risk re-offenders.

Will the Minister disclose his economic and entrepreneurial programs for youth, at risk youth and at risk youth for re-offenders in his constituency.

Will the Minister disclose the number of community officers and budget deployed by him for youth, at risk youth and at risk youth for re-offenders in his constituency.

Silence.

The Cayman shooters in full view of a stadium of people have never been arrested.

While people blissfully commute from their gated enclaves in the high end parts of the Caribbean but consciously unaware of the realities of their poorer communities and overfilled prisons then this lethal pandemic will be like the advertisement.

Coming to you soon.

Notes

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/28/americas/turks-caicos-first-mass-shooting-intl-latam

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/26/grand-cayman-islands-shooting-football-match-soccer

Cayman Stadium Shooting- Some Questions

https://www.rcips.ky/police-respond-to-shooting-incident-at-ed-bush-field-25-february

https://abcnews.go.com/US/5-dead-mass-shooting-caribbean-island-st-vincent/story?id=101525488

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/14/jamaica-shootings-state-of-emergency

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/30/trinidad-and-tobago-state-of-emergency-murders-killings-caribbean-2024

https://trinidadexpress.com/newsextra/mass-murder—5-killed-in-revenge-over-besson-street-police-station-attack/article_f32e3ac8-c6af-11ef-821d-d748ffce3eb5.html

3 mass shootings help push murder toll past 200

Peter Polack is a former criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands. His books are The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013); Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017); and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2019). He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013). His latest book is a compendium of Russian espionage activities 1940-88.