October 28, 2011Dear Sir,I understand that in your Monday series you want to hightlight Bermuda’s unsolved murders; however in doing so, The Royal Gazette has a professional and ethical responsibility to print information that is true and accurate even if the family declines to comment.In your article in The Royal Gazette regarding Jahmiko LeShore, there appears to be inaccuracies in some of the comments that were made:* “Jahkeo LeShore (the brother of Jahmiko) is well known to the police.” In making this statement one would infer that Jahkeo was a criminal. Then if that was the intent of the statement, then this paper should have gone a step further and stated that regardless of the individual’s notoriety among law enforcement, Jahkeo has no criminal convictions.l“Jahmiko helped set up a Facebook page…RIP can’t even put nuffin in words your [sic] my road dog 4 life …” Setting up a page and leaving comments does not imply that he looked up to Kumi Hartford as a “mentor”. Such a statement is misleading and a deliberate attempt to take his condolences out of context and completely pervert its meaning. If The Royal Gazette and its “sources” use Facebook as a leading tool for factual reporting and concentrated investigative evidentiary value, then the information published must be viewed as credible if the Island is going to bring to justice the perpetrators of 12 unsolved murders.* “Mr LeShore’s family insist that though he grew up and had many friends in the St Monica’s Road area, which is known as 42’s stronghold, he wasn’t a gangster.” “The same court hearing was told by Sgt Alex Rollin on June 28 this year that Mr LeShore was known to him as a member of 42.” Unless The Royal Gazette and its “sources” have their own dictionary definition of gangster, (gangsters are engaged in criminal activity), then they should refrain from making statements that imply otherwise. Jahmiko was never arrested, charged or convicted of any criminal activity. To the many residents who lived and still live in the area, saying that it is a “42 stronghold” is very offensive since many of the residents are law-abiding citizens.The LeShore family firmly stands behind the statement that Jahmiko LeShore was not a gangster. Unless the officer has underlying facts and circumstances, to support his conclusion then mere affirmation of suspicion and belief without any statement of adequate supporting facts is invalid. Notwithstanding, Mr LeShore never referred to himself as a gangster and since he is not here to defend himself, unless “sources” can prove otherwise, we view these comments as unfounded and baseless, and will never stand up in any court of law.While the LeShore family stands by its decision to decline comment, we challenge your editorial and strongly urge, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, The Royal Gazette retract the statements. We feel it irresponsible for the media to distort the truth without showing any responsibility to the families involved. Media sensationalism only damages the citizens, the community and the country when it perpetuates the stereotype that the killing of all young black males is a result of the victims’ gang affiliation.TONITA LESHOREEditor’s Note: The Royal Gazette goes to great pains to present both sides of every story, and did so in this case as well. We would not publish information from sources unless we felt it was reliable, and even then, we accept that there are different viewpoints, which is the reason the LeShore family’s perspective was given due prominence. Finally, in the series on unsolved murders, the newspaper has reported on cases where the victims appear to have had no gang affiliation whatsoever, so to suggest that this newspaper has perpetuated “the stereotype that the killing of all young black males is a result of the victims’ gang affiliation” is unfair and inaccurate. We stand by the story.