Teenager Gunned Down in San Pedro; Another Wounded, 2 Suspects Detained

Ryan Lucas & Christian Contreras

There was a brazen murder just before midday on San Pedro. Teenager Christian Contreras was gunned down as he was hanging out with a friend outside of a bar in the Boca Del Rio area of the island. Another man, twenty-eight-year-old Ryan Lucas was wounded and airlifted to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.  With quick action by police, two persons were detained within a few hours, but investigators cannot say what caused this latest gun violence. News Five’s Andrea Polanco was in San Pedro Town today and has the details of this latest killing.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

Several shots rang out in the Boca Del Rio Area in San Pedro Town around eleven thirty this morning – and within moments this street in front of Compadre’s Bar became a murder scene.  One man, eighteen-year-old Christian Contreras, was dead and his friend twenty-eight-year-old Ryan Lucas was injured. The two men were sitting on these steps at Compadre’s Bar located on the corner of Laguna Drive and Conch Shell Street – when they were approached by two men; one of the men fired several shots – as many as eight hitting Contreras and Lucas. The two men ran away leaving a bicycle behind. Despite there being wide-spread speculation that this latest killing is drug related, Police say it is too early to tell what triggered this murder but both men are known to the authorities on the island.

Henry Jemmott

Supt. Henry Jemmott, O.C., Coastal Executive Unit

“I would not like to speculate at this time because the investigation is very early we don’t have a motive to go at so at this time I cannot speculate on that.”

Andrea Polanco

“Is there anything to suggest that this latest killing has anything to do with the ongoing drug problem that has been [happening] on the island?”

Supt. Henry Jemmott

“I wouldn’t say that. I wouldn’t say that. I know that both persons are knowing to the police but I wouldn’t want to speculate as early as this time into this murder here.”

Andrea Polanco

“Did any one of these men had any problem with anyone recently that was brought to the attention of the police?”

Supt. Henry Jemmott

“Not that we know of. Not that we know of. We don’t have any information to suggest that.”

Andrea Polanco

“So, no motive at all – nothing that would point to why this happened?”

Christian Contreras

Supt. Henry Jemmott

“No. Not at this time because these persons are not the regular ones that would hang with the names that were called in the past. So, we are looking at different angles before coming to a conclusion.”

Contreras was hit four times to the upper body; twice to the chest, once to the lower left back and once to the right arm – he tried to run for cover, but fell a short distance away where he died lying face down in a pool of blood. Lucas was shot to the right arm and abdomen and remains hospitalized. Contreras’ family says that they are at a loss for words because the teenager had just left home earlier in morning and he seemed happy and at ease. They say they have absolutely no idea why he was killed or by whom. But San Pedro police hopes to find out who the killer or killers are. Two persons are already in custody and are being questioned, one of them is a minor.

Ryan Lucas

Supt. Henry Jemmott

“We don’t want to pre-empt anything. We want to do our investigation thoroughly before coming to a conclusion.”

Andrea Polanco

“You have any suspects in connection with this murder?”

Supt. Henry Jemmott

“I could tell you that we have two suspects in custody and we will pursue every angle to see if we can lay charges if possible.”

One man is dead and another is injured – this scene has become all too familiar to residents on the island and also a concern. Nelson Gomez, Owner of Compadre’s Bar, a popular hotspot in the Boca Del Rio Area, says his business was closed at the time of the incident. As he was heading to his establishment to prepare to open for one this afternoon, he was greeted with a murder scene – a building shattered by bullets.

Nelson Gomez, Owner, Compadre’s Bar

“I am glad the business was closed. It is a concern, you know, because people here in San Pedro don’t feel free and this happened early in this morning. So, we have to worry; all the people from San Pedro we have to worry because this is outrageous. I just want to say that I don’t want people to see my business as bad place because it didn’t happen inside; this happened on the street.”

Andrea Polanco

“When you got here, what did you see?”

Nelson Gomez

Nelson Gomez

“When I got here, you know, I see that they had blood spilled all over the place here, so I had to clean it now.”

Andrea Polanco

“And of course if you had your business open at the time, you don’t know how this would have played out?”

Nelson Gomez

“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Because you know it is like some other innocent people could have gotten shot you know and that is a concern for us. “

Andrea Polanco

“Do you think these kinds of things are impacting business; impacting your bottom dollar in terms of the money you are making. Is it where business owners are seeing people scared of going out and socialized or are they not coming out?”

Nelson Gomez

“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It is like everybody in San Pedro is scared now and things are very slow and people don’t want to go out and it is very sad for us as a business owner everything is slow and people don’t want to come out. We need more security.”

The bike used by the killers, eight nine-millimeter expended shells and two slugs were all recovered from the scene. Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.