Witnessing a shooting in broad daylight has not deterred former UBP MP Gina Spence-Farmer from speaking out about the recent spate of violence.

"I was on Court Street that day in May, when the young man shot up the store," she said, referring to May 23, 2009, when three men were shot in the C&R Discount Store. "I was heading into the discount store when I realised I had forgot my bag so I turned around and went to my car.

"The young man was a few feet away from me when he started shooting. He was unmasked, barefaced.

"It was scary, this was done, like, vigilante style. He didn't care who saw him."

While many in the community have failed to step forward and provide Police with basic details of shootings and murders Mrs. Spence-Farmer said she gave all the information she had to officers who came to the scene.

She told The Royal Gazette she didn't waver when asked to provide details of the shooting she witnessed.

"I wasn't scared of being a witness," she said. "Someone asked me after I spoke with Police 'where are you going to hide out now?' But that's the thing. I live in the neighbourhood. I know these young men. There is nowhere to run."

But she admitted that the incident as a whole has unnerved her: "It got me thinking, I could have been at the counter when the shooter went into the shop."

She has not yet been told if she will testify in the case against Cervio Cox, who has been charged for the shootings which left three men injured. Cox has entered a not guilty plea. Mrs. Spence-Farmer spoke shortly before Wednesday night's launch of 'Community Voices', a ten-week series she will co-host on ZBM.

She said the six violence-filled months that followed the shooting she witnessed, led her to do the show.

The former MP lives in the very same Pembroke neighbourhood where Kenwandee "Wheels" Robinson, Kumi Harford and Shane Minors were killed. She knows their families and knew the young men as well; she had even mentored Mr. Harford while he was in prison several years back.

Asked why she didn't come forward earlier to add her voice to the outpouring of community concern in the wake of the murders, she said: "I prayed on it long and hard. I didn't want to seem opportunistic and I didn't want to say anything until I had something to offer, something to help the problem.

"That's what the show is for, we want to educate people about what is going on and we want to be able to provide resources for them right now. "We also need to understand these young men and where they are coming from, not to excuse them for their behaviour, but to understand them better."