A man who was jailed in 2022 for an unlicensed gun that police found under his pillow as he and a 15-year-old girl slept naked on a bed was shot and killed on Thursday, one week after being released from prison.
The death of Akeem Ferdinand, 30, of Rockies, is the latest in several shooting deaths in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and has driven up the homicide count to 31.
Police said in a statement on Friday that they are investigating the killing of Ferdinand, which occurred in his home community, Rockies, on Thursday.
The Police Public Relations and Complaints Department said in a statement that officers responded around 8:05 p..m, to reports of multiple gunshots in Rockies.
“Upon arrival at the scene, police met the 30-year-old labourer with what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds about his body.”
A medical practitioner attended the scene and pronounced him dead, police said, adding that a post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.
Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident are ongoing.
Ferdinand is making headlines in death as he did multiple times in his life, the last four years of which were spent behind bars.
In May 2022, as he was being tried for firearm, ammunition and drug possession, Ferdinand had expressed shock during a break in the proceedings that a woman had posed on Facebook with an unlicensed firearm.
However, by the time his trial was over, Ferdinand would be jailed for 75 months for the firearm that police had found under his pillow.
Ferdinand had been further sentenced to 24 months in prison for possession of 19 rounds of 9mm ammunition without a licence.
The court had ordered that the sentences run concurrently and that he pay EC$1,500 for possession of cannabis to avoid a further three months in prison.
He had been found guilty of charges that on Nov. 28, 2021, at Rockie, he had in his possession one 3.8 9mm pistol without a licence, had 19 rounds of 9mm ammunition in his possession without a licence, and had in his possession 552 grammes of cannabis with intent to supply it to another.
Police had found the firearm, ammunition and drugs at Ferdinand’s home in Rockies, while executing a warrant in connection with a report of burglary.
On arrival, the officers had met the door open and when they went into a bedroom they met Ferdinand and a 15-year-old girl naked on a bed, apparently sleeping.
The officer roused the duo and found under Ferdinand’s pillow the black and silver firearm, which was loaded with 19 rounds of ammunition.
When cautioned, Ferdinand said, “Jah! Boy, I ain’t even remember that dey dey.”
He, however, declined to say anything during a formal interview with police and also opted not to answer any of the questions that the officer put to him.
Ferdinand was then jailed for gun possession mere months after completing a five-year sentence for a similar crime, having been sentenced in 2017 to six years in prison for possession of an unlicensed firearm.
He appealed the sentence and the Court of Appeal reduced it to five years.
In August 2017, Ferdinand blamed alcohol after he was found with an Uzi pistol and 12 rounds of 9 mm ammunition without a licence.
“If I wasn’t drunk that night, I wouldn’t ah come across that gun,” Ferdinand had told the court when asked what he had to say for himself before sentencing.
“So the alcohol mek yo’ see the gun?” the magistrate responded during the proceedings at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court.
“It make me pick it up and walk with it when I should ah leave it there,” Ferdinand had responded.
Ferdinand’s death came one night after Michael Jackson, a 52-year-old resident of Yambou, died after being shot in Mesopotamia.
Jackson was shot by a police officer after he allegedly brandished a cutlass as the officer looked into a report that Jackson had stolen money from a bingo event.
It is alleged that Jackson brandished the cutlass when the officer approached him in an attempt to retrieve the money he had allegedly stolen.