Brandon Chafe, 20, is being held in a courtroom on Monday afternoon. (VOCM)
Three more people have been arrested in connection with a series of shootings and a stabbing in the San Juan metropolitan area over the past two weeks.
A number of illegally owned firearms were confiscated in the Brookfield Road area of St. John’s in connection with the ongoing investigation.
The latest arrests have been made in the last 24 hours and add to one on Friday.
The defendants are Brandon Chafe, 20, who was picked up yesterday, Abigail Gillingham, 19, who was arrested this morning, and an 18-year-old man arrested during lunch.
The trio, along with 20-year-old Robert Belbin, who was picked up on Friday, face a range of gun offenses, including trafficking, as well as possession and careless use of firearms and legal.
All remain in custody, with Chafe and Gillingham making brief appearances in provincial court late in the afternoon: Chafe in person and Gillingham on the phone since closing.
Matters were set until tomorrow morning while the defendants are asking for guarantees or people to guarantee their bail.
The arrests came quickly after last week’s most recent crashes in which the lobby of an apartment building was destroyed by bullets and a house was shot and bombed.
Several other incidents date back to May 13, and police say that while the shooting is between two criminal groups in Paradise and St. John’s, they are increasingly concerned about the risk to innocent viewers.
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The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is correcting media reports about the shooting incident on Thorburn Road last week.
The RNC says CBC NL had reported that the police force took three and a half hours to respond to reports of property damage caused by gunfire in the apartment building, saying the incident was reported at 2 p.m. : 45 am and the police did not arrive until later. 6:00 am This information, they say, is not accurate.
The RNC says they completed a “thorough review” of calls to police on the date in question and says no calls for gun damage were received until 6:23 p.m.
They clarify that at 2.45 am they have received numerous reports of gunfire in the area. Police responded, but found no evidence of gunfire or riots at the time. They located a vehicle fire nearby, but could not confirm any connection.
According to the RNC, in order to protect the integrity of the organization and its leaders, they must properly identify and correct any false information published by a media outlet.