Shot man not known to residents

Barbados’ latest shooting incident, which left a 28-yearold man nursing wounds on Wednesday night, caught residents of Ruby Tenantry by surprise.

Not only did some in the St Philip community not hear the gunshots, they also did not know the injured man.

According to police, they responded to a report of a shooting at Ruby Tenantry about 9:30 p.m. after Neico Omali Blackman was attacked by two masked men at his residence and shot in the abdomen. He was transported by private vehicle to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he is hospitalised.

The assailants drove away Blackman’s car but it was later recovered in a cart road at Harrow Plantation, St Philip.

When a Weekend Nation team visited, there were no signs of activity and calls to Blackman’s home went unanswered.

“I ain’t hear about this until 12 o’clock today [yesterday]. So I was shocked. I say, ‘Somebody get shoot in Ruby Tenantry?’ . . . Plus, he just come out here,” one woman said yesterday.

She was adamant that the victim recently moved to the area and added that his house was on the border of Ruby, Work Hall and Union.

So far this year there have been at least 13 shootings and 11 murders, seven by gunshots.

Police investigations are continuing. (TG)

Neico Blackman, 28, was attacked by two masked men at this

residence. (Picture by Jameel Springer.)