Three killed, two critical
Geisha Kowlessar (Guardian)
After a gangland style shooting attack, which resulted in the deaths of three young men—among them two teenagers—scores of concerned residents are demanding that a permanent army camp be set up in the area. Two others have been critically injured in the attack which took place on Factory Road, Diego Martin, outside a factory on the industrial estate.
The dead men, all from Factory Road, were identified as:
• Zaffar Calder, 15
• Khenti Murai, 19
• Kevon St Louis, 24
The two injured men, Dexter St Louis and Arnold Edwards, also of Factory Road, were up to late yesterday listed in serious condition at Port-of-Spain General Hospital. The men were offloading plastic bottles from a container at the Sunspot businessplace which belongs to Robert Scoon, husband of Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon. Police said that around 9.30 am, three men, two armed with sophisticated weapons ran down from the nearby Diego Martin hills and sprayed the group with bullets.
Investigators described the killing as a “well-organised hit,” saying the motive stemmed from a dispute between two warring gangs. “It look like non-Muslim against Muslims...Some members of one group cross the border and the other group did not like it, so they put out a hit,” an investigator said. Calder’s father, Abujihad, expressed little faith that his son’s murder would be solved. “The police know who the killers are, but they just don’t care,” he claimed. Leading the call for an army camp in the area was a vociferous Scoon.
Businessmen scared
Describing the attack as “very shocking” Scoon called for a heavy army presence in Diego Martin to avoid reprisal killings. He said one of the biggest challenges law enforcement officials faced was that the area was surrounded by hills which provided easy getaway routes. “But I don’t think the police are fit to run up those hills, very few of them are...You need the army in here on a permanent basis,” Scoon said. “The soldiers are fitter and more feared than the police.”
Factory Road also houses several other businessplaces and Scoon warned that if crime continued at its current rate many businessmen would be sitting ducks. “This is one of the problems...Businessmen feel very scared of being kidnapped or robbed,” he said. “Gang members might come on their compound to kill or rob them...It is very scary.” Scoon, owner of another factory, also on Factory Road, said he had been forced to “look over his shoulder,” daily.
“I constantly have to wonder when something would happen and it now has,” he said. “For any businessman to experience this it is very traumatic.” He said the victims were not regular employees, but worked at his factory from time to time. “Normally these guys would come every two or three months on a need basis just to unstuff the container,” Scoon said. Saying he planned to “beef up” security, Scoon said there was no guarantee that he or his employees would be any safer. “It’s easy to be overwhelmed, because these guys are coming in threes and fours,” he said.
Resources increased
Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert, who visited the scene twice yesterday, has assured that additional resources would be deployed at Factory Road. “We are not giving up. We are working very hard and we will get additional resources because this must be dealt with,” Philbert said. Asked if there would be any soldiers working with the police, Philbert said, “I don’t know what there would be.” But Philbert’s assurances did little to temper some angry residents, who cursed the police.
“Sautt (Special-Anti Crime Unit of T&T) is a big waste of time. They solving nothing. “Where the blimp and helicopter? If it was a soldier or policeman you bring it out fast,” said one irate woman. Chetewayo Murqi, another resident, who said he was fed up with the shootings at Factory Road, called for an “immediate lockdown” of the area.
Maybe them gangmen had a lil arrangement with manning to hold it down till summit done. My lil cynicism.