The skipper of the 163ft Perini Navi ketch Perseus, 38-year-old Australian Drew Gollan (pictured right), has been shot and killed in an incident in Falmouth Harbour Antigua. The shooting took place outside the Gallery Bar on the road between English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour. A source on the island said that he was shot in front of his partner, Alena and young child.
Yachting World were told that Drew Gollan and Alena had hired a house on the road behind the Gallery Bar and were on their way home after dinner. An attacker tried to grab Alena’s bag and a gun went off in the struggle, the bullet apparently grazing her foot. Drew chased after the attacker and in an ensuing struggle was shot twice in the chest.
Our source said that the police were waiting to talk to Alena about the attacker’s identity but at this stage no arrest had been made.
The charter and holiday season is at its height in Antigua and this killing comes on top of a number of other attacks including a reported armed robbery at a club on the island and an attack on two hostesses from another yacht.
According to a contact working in Falmouth Harbour yachts due to leave over the next few days have brought their departure plans forward and are on their way out of the island.
An increasing number of violent incidents have plagued Antigua recently and the police have been criticised for reacting too slowly to incidents. In the Gollan case the local police station is only metres away but it reportedly took officers 20 minutes to arrive on the scene.
However, some say that this winter season has seen less violence than last year when the island was in the headlines for the honeymoon killings last summer when Catharine and Ben Mullany died.
Drew Gollan’s killing happened in the heart of the yachting community and is bound to have far reaching effects in an area which depends on the yachting trade.
We will bring you more details of this story as they emerge.