Darrin Simons, the Commissioner of Police, confirmed this evening that a woman inside an establishment on Court Street had been shot by a lone gunman at about 4.45pm.

Mr Simons said the gunman walked into a beauty salon located in the parking lot area by the Place’s Place bar and “opened fire on a woman that was in there”.

The victim was being treated at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after the attack on the Beauty Monster salon.

Speaking from the scene, Mr Simons emphasised the urgent need for witnesses to assist, nothing that on Court Street at that hour, “there are definitely people out there that have seen things”.

He added: “Without a doubt, this is a very tragic, heinous action by a member of our community and I would expect some community outrage and community assistance in response to this issue.”

A section of the junction of Court Street and Dundonald Street was swiftly cordoned off by police in the aftermath. At least two ambulances attended.

As of 7pm the woman’s condition remained unknown.

Mr Simons could not confirm if she had been the intended target of the shooting, or if she was a customer or member of staff at the establishment.

He said that CCTV cameras opposite where the incident took place were newly installed and not yet online.

He added, however, that officers would conduct a “CCTV trawl” and examine available video footage to trace the suspect’s movements and build a description.

Mr Simons said the man left the premises on foot and employed “the use of a cycle definitely a little bit afterwards,” but could not say if the vehicle had been operated by another person.

He added that a description of the suspect would be made available “fairly soon”.

Mr Simons said additional police patrols and a “community response plan” would be deployed for the area.

The incident occurred in the area of the double murder of Natrae Eversley, 23, and Nakai Robinson, 18, who were shot dead on August 12, with a third person left injured.

It also marks the island’s second gun incident of the month, after a man was wounded in the early hours of September 10 in a shooting at Devon Spring Road in Devonshire.

Mr Simons said there had been “far too many” tragic incidents involving “some violent members of our community” opening fire in public places.

He added: “We absolutely need to do everything we can together as a community to bring a stop to this.

“Rest assured that the police, from an investigating perspective, are going to be responding to this. We’re going to be asking people to give us information, using all the tools that are available to gather information and bring offenders to justice.”

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