An 18-year-old youth is dead and police are on the hunt for a “street kid” after a stabbing in Kingstown around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
Police are yet to comment on the incident, which takes to three the number of people killed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in less than a week as the overall homicide count rises to 36 this year.
Multiple sources have told iWitness News that the dead teen is Gary Bute, of Campden Park, but originally from Riley.
One person who said they witnessed the incident said that Bute was standing at Middle and Melville streets near Gonsalves Liquor when his assailant came running towards him.
While he was some distance from Bute, the attacker jumped up and took down something looking like an ice pick from a window ledge, then ran up to Bute and stabbed him once in the chest, causing him to collapse, the witness said.
Bute was taken to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where he later died.
iWitness News understands that there was a scuffle between some of the “street kids” elsewhere that later led to the stabbing.
The killing has once again brought into focus the issue of the number of children, mainly teenage boys, who either live or are frequently seen on the streets of the city at all hours of the day and night.
The dead teen is said to have frequented Melville Street, as had Matthew Da Souza, 13, with other “street kids” before two of them allegedly murdered Da Souza in September 2024.
On Sept. 30, 2024, Da Souza’s body was found at Sion Hill Bay and police have charged a then 11-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy with murder in connection with his death.
The duo is in police custody as they await their murder trial.
The issue of children living or being on the streets of Kingstown has been raised publicly repeatedly, including on radio shows.
Members of the public have complained about the children’s aggression to the public and their violence towards each other.
The killing on Tuesday follows the discovery of the body of Lee-Chang Anthony, 32, of Long Wall, Kingstown, in a shallow grave in Lowmans Hill, where he lived and farmed.
On Nov. 5, Shem Walker, 25, of Stubbs, was gunned down in Akers while travelling in a car, 25 days before his 26th birthday.
Walker’s death came five weeks after at least three threatening comments were made on his Instagram account.
Ralph,if you want to do something worth while,sell one of your million dollar mansions and build a place to house thse kids. Remember,these kids are the product of your great policies.
Hang them up. A life for a life.