Acting Prime Minister St. Clair Leacock on Saturday expressed condolences to the families of the four people gunned down in Green Hill the previous night, noting that it came days after he emphasised the need for discipline among the nation’s youth.
Police have called a press conference for 1 p.m. Saturday (local time) as the investigation continues into the shooting, whose victims include 22-year-old Green Hill resident Steve King, whose father, Stephen King, 76, was shot and killed at his home and business place in the Central Kingstown community in May 2025.
The other victims have been identified as Green Hill residents Antonio Samuel, 30, and Shaqueil Peters, 26, as well as Paul’s Avenue resident Shevon Chandler, 23.
Four people — aged 16, 17, 20 and 28 — were injured in the shooting and listed as in stable condition in hospital.
Leacock, who is also minister of national security and MP for Central Kingstown, where Green Hill is located, said on NBC Radio on Saturday that Green Hill is regarded as one of the most peaceful communities in the constituency.
He noted that the victims were under the age of 30, with some of them younger than 20.
Leacock expressed condolences on behalf of Prime Minister Godwin Friday, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, which he addressed on Friday for the first time since the New Democratic Party government came to office in November.
In his address, Friday noted the impact of gun violence in the Caribbean, notably in Haiti, where gangs have taken control of large parts of the capital.
The acting prime minister framed the killings as part of a wider problem of youth anger and violence, saying gangs were spreading in communities.
“As the nation would know, I have been speaking to the subject matter over and over again for the last several months. Most recently, a week ago, at the Grammar School celebration of the 118th anniversary, when I appealed openly to our young people to pay attention to their conduct and their behaviours.”
At that meeting on Monday, Leacock warned that students who engage in public brawls and other criminal behaviour will face firm police action, insisting that there will be no tolerance for street violence involving schoolchildren.
“It’s ironic that yesterday evening, as I addressed the Cadet Force on their 90th anniversary, I chose to speak on the question of moral courage and encouraged all of the cadets to be leaders in their respective communities to transform the direction in St. Vincent is growing, and to provide leadership for their peers.
“It is obvious to all that gangs proliferate [in] many communities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Leacock said.
He added that he has to be “very careful in this regard because any very strong statement presents problems for our investment climate in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which is still indeed a peaceful country.
“But the reality is, these crimes, these homicides, create a serious nightmare for us.”
He said the law and order forces continue to work diligently under the charge of acting Commissioner of Police Trevor “Buju” Bailey to deal with these matters.
Leacock pointed out that on his return to SVG recently, he made the point that the country cannot arrest and prosecute its way out of crime and violence, which he described as “very pervasive”.
“It requires the whole-of-St. Vincent approach to this resolution,” the acting PM said, adding, “We all have to move and row in the same direction.”
He said that the family, as the basic unit of society, must do its work, adding that the Church and the school, as socialisation agencies, have to play their part.
“Where success has been seen in this crime and violence situation internationally, it is where there has been a collective approach, in particular that of the faith-based communities. I make that appeal again,” Leacock said, echoing comments he made in Parliament after a visit to the New York Police Department last month.
He reminded the nation that over 25 years ago, early in his life as a politician, he proposed a social and spiritual redemption charter for SVG, “meaning that we had to pay more attention to our young people, our youth organisations, getting back to the basic Christian values, spend more money on preventative aspects of crime”.
He noted that he had said then that it cost the government nearly EC$13,000 annually to keep a person in prison.
“I think it’s closer to 16,000 now. We were contributing a mere $5 per person to the cadets, scouts, girl guides, pathfinders, or the youth organisation.”
He said, for contrast, that when he addressed the cadets at their anniversary parade on Friday, only one of them was a Grammar School student.
“Just imagine that: the cadets which were anchored in the Grammar School have a membership of only one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines today,” said Leacock, a former commandant of the Cadet Force who attained the rank of major, and repeatedly praises the organisation for its contribution to his self-discipline.
“If you look at the regional highlights in Barbados, yesterday was a day in which they paraded all of their youth organisations, with the Girl Guides, their Pathfinders, and many outstanding youth organisations, that were on point ceremoniously, making that statement of the direction in which their country should go.
“We have to, as a collective, address crime and violence. The majority of victims last evening, unfortunately, were young people, all under 30, many under the age of 20.”
He said that was, however, not the only event on Friday evening, adding, “At another business house, we had, one more time, a terrible display of youth anger and violence.
“And this question has to be asked: How, when, where, and who are we going to deal with this scourge on the Vincentian society?
“I end again by expressing condolences to the family as I appeal to our nation to move in one common direction to save our future, save our young leaders, to have them turn away from the life of crime and violence, even as we stand by a force of law and order to assist us in these difficult times,” Leacock said.