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And less than an hour and a half later – there was another gang related murder – this one happened on the open street in a busy area of town – and it was likely an act of immediate retaliation.

The victim this time was 19 year old Devin Parham. Parham was walking home on Cemetery Road – right on forn of Habet Hardware with one of his cousins when a gun man opened fire on them from behind. His cousin escaped but Parham was shot dead. Police responded quickly and managed to arrest the suspected shooter and recover his weapon. 

That’s a major plus, but it’s a very worrying state of in-security in the city tonight. 

This evening we spoke to ACP Chester Williams about the tense atmosphere of the city streets where he stressed that situation is not as chaotic as we might think.  

ACP Chester Williams - O. C. Eastern Rural North
"We cannot paint a picture that does not exist. There was no chaos; there was a shooting on Cemetery Road in front of Habet & Habet where one Devin Parham was fatally shot. Police swift respond to that matter have led to the detention of a suspect with a 9 mm pistol. He is currently in custody and the police investigation continues. To say that there was a chaos is overstating the fact."

Emanuel Pech
"Sir I know you don't like to get into the gang element too much but in this situation was this gang element at play in these situations? Are they related?"

ACP Chester Williams - O. C. Eastern Rural North
"Mr. Parham that I know who was killed today; as far as I know him he's a person that hangs out at 123rd. I do not know of him to be involved in gang; yes around him do have a number of person who are associated with criminal gangs but to say that he was I don't know so I will not tell you that he was a member of a gang. But like you rightly said we do believe that the shooting of Parham was a retaliation as a result of the shooting that took place on Castle Street just minutes earlier. And the suspect that we have in custody is from Castle Street. You know on Northside always say that people from Southside go on Northside and create crime? Well Northside man come on Southside and create crime too because the suspect is from Northside but he is affiliated with the George Street gang."

So where did this round of killings begin? Well according to ACP Williams it started with the murder of Giovanni Gentle, who is from the Ghost Town neighborhood.

ACP Chester Williams - O. C. Eastern Rural North
"After we had the shooting on Friday night whereby Mr. Gentle was shot on Regent Street West we had no intervention. For the one on Northside I am sure that the officers on Northside will give you more details but they know who did it and we already have some of those suspects in custody and they'll be handed over to Northside. And like I said the one that took place on Southside we actually caught the suspect just after the act with his gun and we have witnesses as well who have given statements; so in both cases we are making great inroads so both of them will be solved and those perpetrators will be sent to prison but we still have to ensure that we do the relevant mediation to be able to quell the situation because it can get worse."

So tonight, one murder suspect is detained for the southside murder, and police are holding other suspects for the northside murder.