Cul de Sac --- Students on a school bus fired shots at a passing vehicle in the Cul de Sac area. SMN News learnt that at least one person has been shot. Police boarded the school bus in question and arrested two students who were in possession of firearms.Prosecutor Rienk Mud confirmed that two students were arrested the two students were in possession of a firearm. Mud said the shooting took place somewhere in the St. Peters area but based on information he received no one was injured.
In the meantime, Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson in a press release said between 01.00 pm and 02.00pm a clash between gangs from Cul de Sac and a gang from Philipsburg broke out. Henson said the clash began somewhere in the vicinity of Cake House L.B Scot Road. He said a group of students attacked a school bus with license plate G-53, he said the bus was on its way from South Reward to Philipsburg.According to eyewitnesses, the group of young students on the L.B. Scot road attacked another group of students in the school bus by throwing bottles. Witnesses further stated that they heard at least two gunshots going off and at least one of the shots came from the school bus. The driver of the school bus tried to keep the situation under control by continuing to drive towards Philipsburg.
Police responded to the scene immediately Henson said. Hensons explained several police patrols were sent to the area to investigate the circumstances of the gunshots.
Police caught up with the School Bus on Bush Road in the vicinity of Suki Restaurant. Police also spoke to the driver of P-8215 who told police that one of the bullets hit his vehicle during the shooting. A bullet hole was in the upper left corner of the windshield of the car.
The bullet had also entered the headrest of the passengers-seat. No one was sitting on that seat during the incident. Henson said an intense search took place on the school bus to locate the firearm. During the search, a black school bag belonging to a female student with initials G.D. located under the seat and in this bag a revolver brand Smith and Wesson caliber .38 with five bullets and one spent cartridge found. This firearm was confiscated along with two machetes and three knives that were found. In total nine students that were on the bus have been taken to the police station for questioning to try to determine exactly what took place. The investigation is ongoing by the Detective department.
The police on St. Maarten have been calling on parents on several occasions to take charge of their children since they are not able to do it alone. Last year the police department took special time out and conducted several controls on these schools buses. Each time a control was conducted the police confiscated several weapons. The police also left their normal duties and went to schools where they lectured students regarding violence and weapon. However, something seems not to be working because the students who were controlled during these random controls had the guts to take guns and machete to school and to use it in public domain.
It appears that students attending schools on St. Maarten are losing respect for their parents, teachers, their peers, as well as themselves. Somehow, there is a feeling that these youngsters have no respect for life anymore. In several homes, minors are left to care for themselves since their parents are working overtime to make ends meet.
Government on the other hand is yet to provide more sports ground and organized activities to occupy these youngsters who are left alone at home with their television as their guardians.
It is said that it takes a community to raise a child, something that parents and grandparents of the past utilized well. There was less crime on the Caribbean islands among youths when the older folks coordinated their efforts. Moral values and respect was high on the agenda of these parents while today's parents are focusing on material gains and not the lifestyle of their children.
However, the so-called civilized parents do not see the need to work hand in hand with their neighbors and teachers to keep their children in line. Teachers would say that they are not allowed to use corporal punishment in schools since it is against the law, however they are allowed to suspend minors with behavioral problems. Suspending these students is not the answer to the moral issues facing St. Maarten schools. It is time for the justice department to consider prosecuting the parents of these students who are caught breaking the law. Let the parents go behind bars and the youths in a correctional facility, which might be one of the solutions if we are to curb youth violence.