![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/St.-Lucia-shooting.jpg\")
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Gun violence continues to plague the southern town of Vieux Fort with three killed on Saturday night including a toddler.<\/p>\n
According to media reports, the bloodshed began in an area called Cedar Heights at around 8:30 pm. when police responded to reports of gunshots.<\/p>\n
Upon investigation, police found a man dead at the scene which was littered with spent shells.<\/p>\n
A little over an hour later, around 9:37 pm, police responded to another shooting incident in an area call “Mang.”<\/p>\n
Emergency personnel said a two-year-old was found with “negative vitals.”<\/p>\n
His grandmother died from gunshot wounds a short time later.<\/p>\n
Vieux Fort, which serves as St Lucia’s second town, has been troubled by a series of deadly gun violence, including in early March when seven people were gunned down within a two-day period.<\/p>\n
In a bid to stem the bloodletting, the government was forced to seek regional assistance from the Regional Security System (RSS).<\/p>\n
Police officers from across the region, including Dominica, descended on the town which was declared an “Escalated Crime Zone,” which granted police expanded powers.<\/p>\n
Saturday night’s violence took place just as an eight-member contingent from the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force arrived on the island to join the RSS operations in Vieux Fort.<\/p>\n
In a release, the Defense Force said the deployment is strictly focused on providing support to the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force in response to the recent upsurge in violence.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the police in St Lucia are appealing for assistance as they battle the crime wave.<\/p>\n
They say anyone with information should should contact the nearest police station, the Vieux Fort Police Station at 456- 3905, 456-3906, or the Crime Hotline at 555 for anonymous reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gun violence continues to plague the southern town of Vieux Fort with three killed on Saturday night including a toddler. According to media reports, the bloodshed began in an area called Cedar Heights at around 8:30 pm. when police responded…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":301329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,301,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-court-law","category-death","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n