U.S. tourist, cop vacationing in Turks and Caicos is killed along with a local resident
An American tourist and 21-year law enforcement officer from the Chicago area — celebrating her sister’s birthday in the Turks and Caicos Islands — was killed late Saturday along with a local resident when unnamed assailants opened fire on a popular restaurant and nightclub in Providenciales.
Shamone A. Duncan, 50, was on the rooftop of Aziza Restaurant & Lounge in Grace Bay, when the shooting happened around 10 p.m, her family said in a statement shared with the Miami Herald. The restaurant is located not far from the Grace Bay Suites where she and her fellow travelers were staying.
“The trip intended to celebrate Duncan’s sister’s birthday has left the family in mourning,” the statement said. At the time of her death, Duncan was with the Cook County Sheriff Office, where she had served 21 years.
Duncan was “a devoted mother, grandmother” as well as a member of the Eastern Star fraternal order. Her tragic death has left both “her family and community in deep mourning,” her family added.
Also killed in the incident was Dario Stubbs, 30, a local insurance agent. Neither he nor Duncan are thought to have been the intended targets.
Wilkie Arthur, the chief editor of Eagle Legal News Network in the Turks and Caicos, said he visited the crime scene Saturday after the shooting, and again on Sunday.
A police source told him that the shooter appeared to have been across the street, and Aziza also may not have been the intended target. A person who was shot in the leg during the incident was at a neighboring nightclub when the shots were fired. The unidentified person worked as a bartender.
“They still do not have a motive,” Arthur said, adding that police have video footage and they should release it in order for the crime to be quickly solved.
Arthur said he was also told that Stubbs was caught in the crossfire. He had arrived with his child to pick up his wife, who is an employee at the restaurant, when he was struck.
“So both his wife and child saw him get shot from what I understand,” Arthur said.
A spokesperson for the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment including confirmation of the identity of the victims and details about the shooting. A statement issued by police late Saturday simply said its crime unit was investigating “a suspected double homicide and wounding in Providenciales.”
But local media, including the TCI Sun and the Eagle Legal News Network in the Turks and Caicos Islands, soon identified the victims. Arthur, the Eagle’s editor, also had video of the bloodstained concrete where the shooting occurred.
After publication of the article, the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force issued an update confirming the victims’ identities, saying it occurred “near a popular restaurant on Grace Bay Road.”
Acting Commissioner Rodney Adams said after arriving at the scene, “officers discovered three individuals injured during the shooting, one of whom succumbed to injuries at the scene while the other at the hospital. A third victim, who has been identified as a 29-year-old male, is undergoing medical treatment. “
“There is no evidence to suggest that Ms Duncan, Mr. Stubbs or the wounded victim were the targets of this incident,” Adams noted in a statement. “We condemn this violence and will remain resolute in our pursuit of the person(s) responsible for this despicable act.”
Wave of gun-violence in island chain
Located about 600 miles south of Miami, the Turks and Caicos is a British overseas territory. While a popular tourist destination, it also has been grappling with a string of homicides that led to it ending 2024 with 48 murders among its estimated 49,000 population. Local authorities have blamed the homicides on arms and gun trafficking violence, fueled by gang turf wars, taking place among the local population. In 2023, the island-chain logged 23 homicides, a reduction from the previous year when another American tourist, Ken Carter, was killed.
Carter died in 2022 along with two others when the vehicle he was traveling in was ambushed by armed gunmen in the Longbay area of Providenciales. An NAACP leader from Arlington, Virginia, Carter was returning from an excursion at the beach when he was killed. The two others who died during the incident were local residents.
The archipelago again made headlines last year, when five Americans, including an Orlando woman, were detained after ammunition was recovered from their luggage on their way back to the United States. The tourist became caught up in the island’s tough new anti-gun law, which included a mandatory prison sentence for anyone found with ammunition and firearms. The infractions carried a mandatory 12-year-prison sentence and a fine. All of the Americans were eventually allowed to return to the U.S. after pleading guilty, paying a fine and having their sentences suspended.
This story was originally published January 19, 2025 at 3:03 PM.
