Police are left to figure out what led to a Grand Bahama woman’s death and a man’s subsequent attempt to end his own life on Tuesday night.

According to police reports, officers responded to an apartment complex in South Bahamia shortly before 9 p.m. where they met the lifeless body of the woman with multiple stab wounds.

While assessing the scene, the man suspected of the crime was attempting to jump from the balcony’s third floor.

Despite officers’ attempt to prevent him from harming himself, the male jumped from the third floor to the ground critically injuring himself. He was taken to the Rand Memorial Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

Commenting on the tragedy, Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson said it was a domestic matter and the police have the matter under active investigation, adding that in Grand Bahama, as in Abaco, police officers have assistance from CARICOM countries which have deployed 15 officers to Grand Bahama.

“So, we have assistance in Grand Bahama which will allow those officers who were working to get some break time. Just based on that, it tells you the concern and care that we have for our officers,” Commissioner Ferguson said.

With an uptick in murders in the past few weeks, particularly in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, negative rumors have circulated on social media regarding officers and their response time certain crimes.

“You hear people saying anything, I think people ought to exercise extreme patience,” Commissioner Ferguson said.

“Do not allow, sometimes, it’s the stress you may be having, to allow you to use your tongue in the wrong way.”

Taking a more psychological approach to the tragedy, Dr. David Allen, chair of the Rehabilitation of Offenders, a new committee in the Ministry of National Security, acknowledged that Hurricane Dorian has left The Bahamas facing a very difficult time all around.

“When trauma like this happens, we have to recognize you get intrusive symptoms.  There are a lot of flashbacks.  You’re going to get arousal symptoms, agitation, insomnia,” Dr. Allen said. 

“When you lose sleep you become more agitated. When you are more agitated, you are more likely to commit crime. Then you get withdrawal symptoms, people will drink more.

“Then you get somatic symptoms, more aches and pains, people go to doctors.

“What is not known is that societal changes happen quickly after trauma.  We get more car accidents.  We get more crime. We get more murders and you get more suicides. This has shaken our whole psyche up.”