Authorities have taken several suspects in custody for three murders that occurred this past weekend and are searching for five more “major suspects” – four of whom are related.

Over the weekend a female Atlantis worker who had just left a wedding and a murder trial witness were gunned down.

The killings took place in Nassau Village and Pinewood, known crime hotspots.

Early Monday morning another man was killed in the Ridgeland Park area.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Anthony Ferguson confirmed that police are now looking for: Hans Neely, Duran Neely, Aaron Neely, Kenneth Neely and Dion Johnson.

Police said all of the Neelys are related.

The men are all Pinewood Gardens residents.

“We have taken several persons into custody as we follow significant leads and we say thanks to the members of the public so far. However, there are several other persons that we seek who we believe are connected to these recent homicides, especially in the Nassau Village
And Pinewood Gardens area,” he said.

On Saturday, Gwenette Duncombe, 34, was shot several times about the body, including in her face.

The Atlantis worker was riding in a car with friends and had just returned from a wedding when a group of men in a car pulled alongside the car she was in and opened fire.

The driver of her vehicle then sped off and ended up in the parking lot of a police station.

Duncombe died in that lot.

Meantime, Bobby McIntosh, who was murdered in Nassau Village on Saturday, was scheduled to testify in a relative’s murder trial.

With fears of retaliatory killings, Mr. Ferguson says police are always concerned when residents take the law into their own hands.

Instead, he urged residents to report incidents to police.

He also called on more Bahamians to step up and speak out about crime.

“It is incumbent upon us and it’s incumbent upon decent citizens of the society to encourage persons to let them know that the only way that we can rid this country of criminals is to brave and to come forward and testify,” he said.

“I think there are some other things on the back end that will follow. We don’t want a country of frightened people.”

Baptist Bishop Simeon Hall, who says he stands in support of the police, says four murders in three days is “too much for the national conscience.”

He appealed to parents to take charge of their households or else street justice may prevail.

“I know of three families who are waiting now, this is the third or fourth month, and they have yet to bury the person who was killed because they can’t get . . . the funds for the undertaker. These are things that are costly and deadly and cause havoc in families,” he said.

“I further think of persons who were killed and leave children and they have to become children of the state or the church has to take them. We need to see this for what this is and to stop pointing fingers and to take charge of your house. It’s best for you to turn your son in than for some other criminal to take him out.”