by Charles Gladden
DANGRIGA, Stann Creek District, Mon. Mar. 24, 2025
A well-known Dangriga Town figure was gunned down in his yard on Sunday morning, March 23. The deceased has been identified as Charles Bradley, also known as “Shaat Man,” a fisherman of Ramos Road.
Sometime around 9:30 a.m. that Sunday, Bradley was inside his yard when two men arrived at the residence on a motorcycle and fired multiple gunshots at him, killing him instantly.
There has been much speculation about the motive for Bradley’s murder, with one prominent theory being that the murder was an act of retaliation, since the deceased’s son was the prime suspect in the Christmas Day murder of James Arana in Dangriga last year.
Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams acknowledged the possibility that retaliation could have been a motive, but noted that there is not sufficient evidence to confirm this theory. He also pointed to the fact that a number of fishermen have found drugs while out at sea, which often leads to their demise in the long run.
“I cannot say that at this time. But you would know, Bradley has his past; and so there are several possibilities we are looking at, and there’s nothing we can definitively point to [as] a motive at this time,” Williams said.
If, however, the shooting was an act of retaliation for the Christmas Day murder that Bradley’s son allegedly committed, then further acts of retaliation would likely take place. The ComPol highlighted that Alford Grinage, Commander National Operations and Assistant Commissioner of Police, has been assigned to work with Dangriga police to prevent any such retaliatory actions.
“We will be looking at increasing our operational presence in Dangriga Town to go after those persons who are likely to do any retaliation … At this time, the police are trying to see if they can get surveillance footage. We have people who saw what happened, but they’re not cooperating with the police, so we have to find ways to go around that,” he said.
Police are searching for one person who they believe was involved in the shooting, but are having difficulties locating that person.