In an incident that sparked international headlines and drew the attention of the U.S. Department of State, a Crawfordville, Florida, man was shot and killed in the Bahamas during an encounter with a senior Royal Bahamas Police Force officer.
Cody Castillo, 31, was killed on the night of Saturday, March 21, outside Da Plantation Bar and Grill, a popular beach spot in Nassau.
And while the Royal Bahamas Police Force said the officer acted out of self-defense, the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas said Castillo was unarmed and the officer allegedly followed him to his vehicle before shooting him.
Bahamas Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis called for a “full and transparent” investigation of the shooting and said that “where the evidence supports criminal charges, the law must move swiftly,” The Tribune newspaper in Nassau reported.
“The badge can never place anyone above the law,” Davis said.
Bahamas National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said investigators obtained video footage of the incident and suggested the case could result in charges instead of a Coronor’s Court inquest, The Tribune reported.
According to a GoFundMe, Castillo, an electric lineman, was in the Bahamas working for the Pike Corporation, a large firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina, working to upgrade the transmission and distribution network of Bahamas Power and Light.
“Cody was working to support his family with Pike Electric in the Bahamas,” the GoFundMe says. “Then, in a moment that changed everything, Cody’s life was taken by senseless violence while he was working abroad.”
The GoFundMe said that Castillo and his wife, Makayla, were expecting their first child in August. He was planning to fly back home this week but “never made it back home.”
A family member told the Tallahassee Democrat that they had been advised not to make any statements.
“A GoFundMe was started to support his family as they grieve,” the online fundraiser says. It had raised more than $44,000 toward its goal of $45,000 as of the early afternoon of March 24.
The Daily Mail, which first reported on the story, said Castillo was “shot dead” at the beach bar after allegedly getting into a fight with the officer. The Bahamas Press identified him as Superintendent Berneil Pender of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
The RBPF said in a news release that the officer, whom it didn’t name, was at the establishment around 6 p.m. “when an altercation began inside and subsequently continued outside.”
“During the incident, one of the individuals involved entered a vehicle and allegedly drove it in a threatening manner toward the officer,” the Police Force said. “Fearing for his life, the officer drew his service weapon and fired a single shot at the driver, who sustained fatal injuries.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas called on the government to make sure the victim gets justice in the case.
“We are closely following the case of the shooting death of a U.S. citizen by an off-duty police officer last weekend. We note with deepest concern media reports that the officer followed the unarmed victim to his vehicle before fatally shooting him,” the spokesperson said. “We urge the Government of The Bahamas to ensure the victim receives justice in this case without delay.”
It was the first of two fatal shootings by off-duty members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in less than 48 hours, according to the agency.
Another officer shot and killed a 48-year-old man around 1 a.m. Monday, March 23, after getting into a “verbal altercation” with him. The man allegedly got out of his car and struck and injured the officer with a cutlass. The officer fired in the man’s direction and fatally wounded him.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Crawfordville man shot, killed in Bahamas by police; family mourns
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
