FEARS have been expressed that another Gunhill is in the making.

The name Gunhill drove fear in the hearts of citizens in the early 90s, when Cap de Ville, Point Fortin youths took to perpetrating armed hold-ups on salesmen and others passing through the area, shooting up their vehicles and robbing the occupants.

About three or four victims were killed in the hold-ups.

A concerned villager who has been keeping a watch on the crime situation in the south western areas spoke to TnT Mirror about the potential of another generation of Gunhill youths growing up to become bandits.

The villager pointed out that the same conditions that caused Gunhill to happen in the early 90s continue to exist, except that life is getting harder because the cost of living is rising almost daily.

“It was the shootings and killings that took place that caused people to label that part of Cap de Ville, Gunhill,” he explained.

Villagers still blame the security forces for allowing the Gunhill bandits to terrorise and rob citizens for several months before taking any action to put an end to their reign of terror.

“As soon as soldiers were sent to Gunhill to look for the bandits, they promptly stopped their aggression on the citizenry and went out looking for work,” the concerned villager recalled.

A police post was erected there at that time and an adjacent lot of land was cleared to put up a basketball court and other recreational facilities to keep the youths occupied.

“However, nothing was ever done on the land, neither under the United National Congress (UNC) Government that put up the police post, nor under the People’s National Movement (PNM),” he noted.

“I have been watching what is happening in the area; the parenting is just as bad or even worse now.

“And the young people in Cap de Ville are still idling too much, playing cards and playing the fool.

“Some are even getting pregnant at age 13.

“I fear if something worthwhile is not done for that Gunhill community as soon as possible, we might find that as soon as those young people have to find their own food and other means of survival, they, too, might think of taking up guns as the earlier generation.

“And we have to remember that guns and ammunition are everywhere and easier to acquire than in the 90s.

“I believe it will be in everybody’s interest if the authorities could come up with a plan to help the young people of Gunhill.

“Those young people are in danger.”