A retired police commander has expressed concern over the lackluster response by the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) to an incident on the outskirts of the city Saturday night in which an estimated 26 gunshots were heard within the space of 90 minutes in an area close to the Ghetto on the Carenage.

“That’s a lot of shots. This situation calls for serious concern – the police have to get up and get,” said the police officer who retired from the force about a decade ago.

He said the High Command should still have men in uniform patrolling the place despite of the fact that the Christmas and New Year holiday period is now officially over.

Residents complained that no police patrol vehicle was seen in the area for the night despite their pleas for help.

According to the retired top cop, this situation involving the discharge of illegal firearms for close to two hours in the Town of St George calls for “immediate attention” by those now running RGPF.

He said the police cannot afford to just sit down and do nothing but they “have to move on these guys and them.”

“They have to nip this thing in the bud now,” he added.

The retired senior police officer told THE NEW TODAY that the immediate reaction of the Police Force to last night’s incident should have been the mounting of an operation at the dawn of the day to engage in an extensive search of homes, property and persons in order to retrieve the illegal firearms in the hands of the criminal elements.

He said the police should have focused on all suspects and to immediately search their homes.

He recalled that in the past even if the suspects were not caught with anything illegal, some persons tended to provide vital information to the police to help them in their investigations.

“Once you start searching, people will … give you information especially those people who don’t like that (the discharge of illegal firearms). They won’t come direct but you will get the information – they would send it for you and you’re going to get it,” he said,

A terrified resident who called THE NEW TODAY stated that he remained tightly locked up in his home during the ordeal and speculated that the gunshots were coming from an area that he referred to as “almost in the ghetto – just going down into the ghetto’.”

“I was afraid. I did not look out. My wife was ducking – the last set of bullets that went off she was ducking inside the house. It was a terrible night,” he said.

A retired Superintendent of Police is known to be living in the area where the several gunshots were fired.

THE NEW TODAY cannot independently confirm reports that the ex-senior police officer also took cover in his home with his family in order to avoid any stray bullets that might enter into the house.

A resident estimated that there was an initial outburst of ten gunshots around 10:15 p.m., followed by two more at around 10:40 p.m. and the final volley of 14 shots that were fired in quick succession came around 11:15 p.m.

Shortly after the first outburst of gunshots, a senior police officer confirmed to THE NEW TODAY that they had received reports of the incident.

Two police stations are known to be located within 800 yards of The Carenage Ghetto – the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the entrance of Green Street and the other Central Police Station on the Carenage in close proximity to the St George’s Port.

Underworld sources have been reporting that a large shipment of arms and ammunition came into the country recently and those behind it are now engaged in test firing of the weapons.

There have been reports that on Old Year’s night, the sounds of gunshots were heard for about an hour in almost the same area close to the Ghetto.