Mon, 2011-02-07

Assistant Commissioner of Police David Mirfield - The Bermuda Police Service sends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Colford Ferguson.

Shortly Detective Chief Inspector Pedro will address you directly as to the progress made in the investigation, however before that I would just like to speak to the progress we have made over the past year in our fight to tackle gun and gang violence.

You will be aware that this is the first death since August last year relating to gun violence, that will clearly be no comfort to Mr. Ferguson’s family and I do not wish to minimize the impact it will have on them and his friends.

However the Bermuda Police Service has made significant progress in bringing offenders to justice:- 

• Six (6) persons have been charged with murder, and will appear before the Supreme Court in the next six months;
• Eleven persons have been charged with attempted murder, and/or firearms offences;
• Seven (7) convictions in a row in the Supreme Court since January 2010;
• At least 9 other persons will stand trail for firearms related offences again in 2011
• During recent trials for gun related offences persons have been sent to prison for over 60 years including a single 25 year sentence.

While it is crucial to catch and convict those responsible for gun and gang violence we are also working extremely hard to prevent the violence escalating and to keep our communities safe, you will know from the figures recently released that we are arresting more people, (+11.5%) we are stopping and searching more people (+153%/9,400), we deploy visible uniform presence to the areas of most community tension.

Our efforts are greatly assisted by the support of individuals who are prepared to come forward and assist our investigations. It is clear that the people of Bermuda want to help the police; that could be by giving direct evidence relating to a crime; supplying information in person or indeed anonymously or just passing on personal views, all of which helps the service tackle criminal activity.

Detective Chief Inspector Nicholas Pedro - May I start by offering my sincere condolences to the family & friends of Mr. Ferguson on behalf of the investigating team.

At 2:08pm on Friday 4th February 2011, several calls were received through ‘911’ suggesting gun shots were heard in Somerset Village. The investigation has revealed that persons in the village went into the identified crime scene at #2 East Shore Road, Sandys, and found the victim in this matter, Mr. Colford Ferguson. The first officers arrived within 14 minutes of receiving the first call. The scene was immediately preserved and cordoned off for forensic exam.

Mr. Ferguson was in a non-responsive state and was subsequently declared dead by an on duty physician.

An autopsy has been conducted by an overseas forensic pathologist, which determined that Mr. Ferguson died from multiple gunshot wounds.

A full investigation into this incident is underway. A complement of detectives from the Serious Crime Unit and our Forensic Support Unit has examined the scene to collect evidence, and witnesses have been sought, and interviewed. There are a number of lines of enquiry being carried out by the investigating team and significant progress has already been made.

Officers have been in the Somerset area over the weekend interviewing witnesses, and canvassing for other evidence.

The investigating team would still like to speak with any person that may have seen or heard anything related to this incident – however irrelevant it may seem.

Whilst the Police will actively seek out witnesses and collect all available evidence, we encourage anyone with pertinent information to come forward. Again, this information can and will be treated in the strictest confidence.

The Serious Crime Unit can be contacted on 299-8106. Alternatively anyone with any information can contact the confidential & independent Crime Stoppers Bermuda hotline on 800-8477 (TIPS).

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