Officials at the Ministry of Tourism are in damage control mode now after the story of a tourist being murdered in the capital has made headlines at news agencies across the world.

Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said workers in his office are keeping a keen eye to what international agencies are saying about the issue and noted that the story involving Chicago native Bruner’s death has already reached many parts of the world.

“The stories concerning the death, we are continuing to monitor in our public relations unit and we are monitoring all over the world,” he said. “I briefed Europe this morning who said the story has made frontline in one of the major newspapers there, The Daily, so that’s expected.

“We’re seeing if the story could get any traction. But I’m happy that one of our representatives from Visitor Relations spoke to the father of the young man who says that he hold nothing against The Bahamas and thanked The Bahamas for all it’s doing and ensure that they have a sense of respect for our country and also appreciate deeply the work being done by police.

Bruner was shot to the neck early Sunday morning during an armed robbery on Mackey Street.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the murder while police are still searching for a third.

Minister Wilchcombe said as the country continues to sell The Bahamas as a tourist destination, Chicago has been one of those markets the country has been going after heavily, but with the brutal murder of one of the Windy City’s own native on Bahamian soil, the minister said he is not so sure how things will turn out now.

“The Chicago market, obviously we’re concerned about that because we’ve been after that market again,” Minister Wilchcombe added. “Just to see some of the stories in the Chicago area, a wonderful thing about is that The Bahamas is not being given such a negative name although there are some stories that have spoken about what has been said about some crime concerns in The Bahamas with a lot of bag snatching and we don’t want that to intensify.

“You don’t want the image of our country to be sullied in such a way that it will take forever to return it to where we want it to be.”

But Wilchcombe said the ministry’s concern about crime is not just about a single individual or tourist, but for crime as a whole in the country.

He added that the Ministry of Tourism will take the initiative to work with security agencies to have a presence in tourist hubs.