Residents of Beacon Valley and Woodlands were left shaken last week after reports of a deadly shooting at a primary school and pupils carrying guns at a high school were reported on crime watch groups.
Police confirmed that both reports were false.
In the first incident, multiple gunshots were reported near Imperial Primary School, on Thursday 4 September, in Beacon Valley, an area that has seen a sharp rise in gang violence in recent months. Crime watch groups lit up with warnings after the sound of gunfire, followed by a frantic voice note from a woman pleading for police to be sent to Cricket Street.
Within minutes, further unverified reports circulated claiming that a man had been shot dead in front of the school.
However, Mitchell’s Plain Police Station commander Brig Brian Muller dismissed these claims.
“I can confirm there was a shooting incident in Cricket Street, but nobody was shot,” he said. “My members are following up on information received on the scene.”
Later that day, rumours also spread that shots had been fired outside Princeton High School in Woodlands, but police confirmed this too was false.
“Lentegeur police attended to a complaint of a shooting at a school in Mitchell’s Plain,” said Sgt Wesley Twigg, provincial police spokesperson. “No shooting incident occurred in or around the school.”
Intensified operations
The reports came as police intensified operations to disrupt gang activity and drug trafficking in Mitchell’s Plain.
On Thursday 4 September, members of the anti-gang unit arrested two men in Portlands and Beacon Valley for the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition in two separate incidents. Officers recovered a 9mm pistol and a .38 Special revolver during stop-and-search operations.
On the morning of Friday 5 September, public order police discovered 312 Mandrax tablets during the search of a home in Chelsea Street, Tafelsig. A 49-year-old woman was arrested on drug possession charges.
On Saturday 6 September, further arrests were made when three gang-affiliated men aged between 21 and 28 were caught in Cathkin Street, Tafelsig, with a substantial quantity of tik after a tip-off. Police said the men tried to flee in different directions, over fences and across rooftops but were quickly apprehended.
Police said the five men and one woman are due to appear at the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates’ Court this week on charges ranging from possession of drugs to illegal possession of firearms. Authorities say the spate of arrests highlights the continued commitment to “break the backbone of the illicit drug trade and gangsterism” in Mitchell’s Plain.
