Paul Bruce not the First Security Officer Killed on the Job!

The impact of the tragic October 18, 2019 shooting death of Guardsman security officer Paul Bruce at a Balata gas station still reverberated on the airwaves of talk-radio earlier this week. This is what Police Commissioner Severin Monchery said on the matter during a radio interview: “When I look at that incident in Balata, I say it is very concerning to me. Let me say one thing, an attack on a security officer is, to me, an attack on law enforcement on the whole. That is something we need to look at seriously.”

The late Bruce’s employers, Guardsman Group, in a press release this week commended the police commissioner “for his bold statement on the matter. It provided a great deal of encouragement and comfort to my men out on the field.” 

Guardsman Group’s managing director Vinay Walia explained that the company is working closely with the police to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The fatal shooting of Paul Bruce, a Jamaican, brought to mind the shooting death of another security guard last September. Hardy John was shot and killed early one Thursday morning in Marchand while on duty.

The 39-year-old’s killer is still at large. The MP for Castries East, Philip J Pierre, referenced John’s death in a newspaper interview last year: “I knew him very well. He was passionate about his family. He was passionate about his children.The key issue is gun violence and, unless we stop looking for excuses and deal with it in a forceful manner, we’ll not solve it.”

It is unclear whether by “forceful manner” Pierre suggested fighting fire with fire!