Gunmen attack California home…
Sleeping man, son slain
Published: Sat, 2011-01-08 19:40
Radhica Sookraj
The house in which Shomari Lewis, 4, and his father Sheldon were killed. PHOTO: RISHI RAGOONATH Gunmen shot and killed a four-year-old boy and his father as they slept at their home in California, central Trinidad, early yesterday morning. Police said four-year-old Shomari Lewis and his father Sheldon were riddled with bullets as the gunmen fired from automatic weapons just after midnight Thursday. The incident happened at the family’s home at Dow Village, California trainline, in central Trinidad. It caused panic among residents. The boy’s mother Folomi was shot in the left foot.
Shomari was shot in the head and back, while Lewis was shot in the head. The couple’s other children—Safiya, ten, Shakeela, nine; Shirshara, seven; Shakaya, five; and one-year-old baby Shomarli—escaped injuries. The police said the incident might have stemmed from a deal gone sour. The horror first started at the home of Lewis’ brother Damion, who lives within walking distance from the Lewis’ residence. Damion was asleep with his common-law wife Kimberly Andrews and their two children—Aisha, aged three, and one-year-old Jahyouth—when the gunmen came and began firing indiscriminately.
They removed several louvre panes so that the bullets could be fired directly inside the house. The men walked through a muddy track and then fired on the house occupied by Lewis’ neighbours, Laurence Jagan and Junior Ramroop. Both men were saved as the bullets struck a television set. The gunmen then unleashed gunfire at Lewis’ home. In an interview, Folomi said she and her family were all awake when they were attacked.
She said: “When I heard the first set of shots, I tell my husband ‘Baby, you hearing shots?’ But he say it was not shots. He turned to go back to sleep and then we heard more shots closer.” Folomi said she grabbed her two children Shomari and Shomarli as she heard the gunmen coming up the stairs. “Then I saw the muzzle of the gun coming through a hole in the wall. I grabbed my two children and dive under the bed,” she recalled.
The gunmen fired more than a dozen bullets into the house. When the gunfire ceased, Folomi said she felt blood running down her hands. She said: “When I light the light,I see my child dead. My son was not breathing. All I could see was blood. I called my husband and he did not answer. When I looked at him his eyes were open. The other children were crying.” She said Shomari was sleeping at the foot of his father’s bed when the bullets began ringing out.
“He liked to sleep there…He didn’t like to sleep with his sister,” Folomi said. She said Shomari attended the Haniffa Aziz Nursery School. Shomari’s classmates were not told of his death. His teacher, Eon Glasgow, however, took time off to deal with the tragedy. Neighbours expressed shock over the deaths, saying the gunmen had no regard for human life. Investigations are continuing.
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