Some people who live in a quiet west-end neighbourhood are unsettled by two incidents within the last week involving guns.
According to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, police were called to a home on Lester Street in St. John’s at about
1:40 a.m. Monday after there was a report that two men were trying to force their way into the house.
Witnesses told police the suspects fired a shot at the front door. Police say the suspects did not get inside the house.
No injuries were reported.
The RNC is asking for help identifying the two suspects, who were wearing hoodies and had their faces covered at the time.
Police believe the two left in a light-coloured station wagon with a light on the roof.
This comes less than a week after a shooting around the corner on Knowling Street that police have said was a murder/suicide.
A number of people who live on Lester Street spoke to The Telegram but didn’t want to give their names.
Some have lived there for decades and said the neighbourhood was always quiet before.
Now, many are nervous.
As the warm summer sun shone Monday morning, many people were out on their steps in small groups.
The tidy yards with rows of colourful flowers were in sharp contrast to the parked squad car and yellow police tape flapping in the breeze.
Some said they were shocked by the events of the last few days.
According to people who live nearby, a group of young people live in the house that was shot at Monday morning.
The Telegram was told the house was broken into twice in the last few months, but that the police were never called. One neighbour noted a video camera had been installed above the front door of the house after the last incident.
People in the neighbourhood also say cars come to the house at all hours.
One person told her neighbour she’s planning on selling her home and “getting the hell out of here.”
Another person said there’s a worry what the incidents might do to property values in the area.
The RNC said the two incidents are unrelated, and in a news release Monday afternoon said what happened on Lester Street was “not a random act of violence and that public safety is not compromised.”
dbartlett@thetelegram.com
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