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Deputy Prime Minister Freundel Stuart

Within the last 24 hours Barbadians were shocked by the gruesome event unfolding at Tudor Street in the City of Bridgetown, where a number of innocent people lost their lives.??

The dastardly acts of a criminal element were the source of this shock.?? I should like on behalf of the Government and my own behalf, to extend heartfelt condolences to the bereaved relatives and friends of those whose lives were cruelly shortened by the heartless perpetrators of this horrible misdeed.?? This crime reflects features quite unfamiliar to Barbadians and indicates that we cannot afford to ignore the novel, and unsettling types of behavior which are creeping onto our social landscape.??

Tudor Street can no longer be treated as a commercial after thought, the volume of vehicular and pedestrian traffic that plies that area requires that it be accorded no less attention than that available to Broad Street and Swan Street.?? There is urgent need for improved lighting in the area.?? Calls for this basic facility have gone unheeded for a number of years, in addition it is embarrassing that in the first decade of the 21st Century, we still have commercial buildings with provision for only one mode of exit in the event of danger.?? The government must and will move with haste to have this grievous omission corrected, proper standards of building must be enforced.?? Work places are social environments where the lives and welfare of sometimes large numbers of people are at daily risk.

Intelligence available to the Royal Barbados Police Force suggests that a basis exists for a high level of optimism that this crime will be solved soon rather than later and that the perpetrators will be ferreted out and brought to justice with haste.?? While the country is obviously numbed by this blood-curdling atrocity, I urge all to remain calm as the situation is being maturely managed. ??

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