Sen. Tiffany Strann-Peters says the 2012 murder of her friend Melissa Rose might have been prevented if someone had reported seeing the gun used in the killing.

Strann-Peters recounted Rose’s death during Senate debate on the Firearms Amendment Bill, 2026, saying a witness testified that Errol Barnes had given a woman a black revolver less than two hours before the crime.

“If we were taking our responsibility seriously of when you know something, you say something, this is a crime that could have been prevented,” Strann-Peters said. “The gun was in your hands. You saw it. And you had the opportunity to call the police.”

She urged Antiguans and Barbudans, residents and citizens to report what they know about firearms and planned violence.

“When we see something, that we say something,” she said. “Because the life you save may just be your very own.”

Strann-Peters said Rose was killed in John Hughes on Sept. 5, 2012, leaving behind an 11-month-old daughter. She said the girl would now be 15 and had never had the chance to know her mother.

The senator recalled speaking with Rose earlier that day. Rose had been looking for apple juice to give her daughter because she could not find the Gerber brand, and Strann-Peters suggested an alternative.

Later, while working a shift at Dixie, Strann-Peters said she called Rose’s phone and asked to speak with her. She initially thought the person who answered was joking when told Rose could not come to the phone. Then Rose’s mother arrived at the store, and Strann-Peters heard her crying.

“That’s when we knew that this indeed had materialized and Melissa was indeed dead,” she said. “It still aches to this day.”

Strann-Peters said people learn to cope with loss, but the pain remains. She linked Rose’s killing to what she described as a wider failure by society to take responsibility for young people and to speak up when they know about a crime.

She supported a proposed minimum 15-year prison sentence for possessing a firearm or ammunition with intent to injure, saying she would support a minimum of 20 years and considered a maximum of 40 years justifiable.

But she said tougher penalties alone could not replace public cooperation in preventing crime. The first firearms bill was passed in 1971, she noted, and penalties have increased since then.

“ It is not a one-person job,” Strann-Peters said. “It is not only the job of the police, but it is all of us that would assist in policing and ensuring that we create and continue to maintain the safe Antigua and Barbuda and this paradise that we all love.”

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Senator says reporting guns can save lives, recalls friend’s murder.