Three more people have been arrested in connection with a spate of shootings and a stabbing in the St. John’s metro region over the past two weeks.
A number of illegally owned firearms were seized from the Brookfield Road area of St. John’s in connection with the ongoing investigation.
The latest arrests were made over the past 24 hours and are in addition to one on Friday.
Charged are 20-year-old Brandon Chafe, who was picked up yesterday, 19-year-old Abigail Gillingham who was arrested this morning, and an 18-year-old male taken into custody over the lunch hour.
The trio, along with 20-year-old Robert Belbin, who was picked up on Friday, face a raft of weapons offences, including trafficking, as well as possession and careless use of illegal firearms.
All remain in custody, with Chafe and Gillingham making brief appearances in provincial court late this afternoon – Chafe in person and Gillingham on the phone from the lockup.
The matters were set over until tomorrow morning while the accused seek sureties, or people to vouch for their bail.
The arrests have come quickly on the heels of the most recent shootings last week in which the lobby of an apartment building was sprayed with bullets, and a house was shot up and firebombed.
Several other incidents date back to May 13, with police saying while the gunplay is between two criminal groups in Paradise and St. John’s, they’re becoming increasingly concerned about the risk to innocent bystanders.
Earlier Story
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is correcting some information in the media about the shooting incident on Thorburn Road last week.
The RNC says CBC NL had reported that the police force took three and a half hours to respond to reports of property damage caused by gunshots at the apartment building, saying the incident was reported at 2:45 a.m. and police didn’t arrive until after 6:00 a.m. That information, they say, is not accurate.
The RNC says they completed a “thorough review” of calls to police on the date in question, and say no call was received about damage from gunshots until 6:23 a.m.
They clarify that at 2:45 a.m. they received numerous reports of gunshots in the area. Police responded but did not find evidence of gunshots or a disturbance at that time. They did locate a vehicle fire nearby, but they cannot confirm any connection.
According to the RNC, in the interest of protecting the integrity of the organization and their officers they must appropriately identify and correct any false information published by a media outlet.
