Trinidad police hunt for killers of son attending wake for murdered mother

Multiple shootings, decapitation mark another bloody weekend in Trinidad

Trinidad and Tobago police are continuing their search for the killer of 30-year-old Joseph Nero who was gunned down on Sunday night while attending a wake for his mother.

Police said that 52 year-old Patricia Spinx of Caroni in Central Trinidad, was shot and killed at her home on Friday night. Her killers have not yet been found.

The authorities said that her 30-year-old son was among relatives attending the wake when a gunman on a motorbike called out to him and brazenly shot him in front of numerous witnesses.

The police said they have no motive as yet for the double killings.

Nearly 300 people have been murdered in Trinidad and Tobago since the start of the year.

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Trinidad police deny involvement in murders, call for state of emergency

One person was decapitated and two others shot as Trinidad and Tobago recorded yet another bloody weekend.

Police said that the head of an unidentified man was found by a passer-by at the Santa Rosa Race Track in Arima, east of Port-of-Spain. His body was found nearby.

Police said the man of East Indian descent appeared to be in his early 30s.

In the other incidents, police reported that Ishmael Lewis, 41, was at his George Clarke Road home on Saturday night, in the company of another man and a woman, when they heard male voices at the front door saying “police!”

Two masked men suddenly entered the house, ordered the woman into one of the bedrooms before shooting Lewis several times. The other man was also left unhurt.

Police are also investigating the death of 28-year-old Dale Augustus, 28, of Malick, along the east-west corridor, who was also in the company of another man and a woman when three masked men entered the house and shot Augustus to death in a bedroom, leaving the other two people unhurt.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Ricardo Mohammed became the latest person killed by a police bullet this year.

Police said that Mohammed was accidentally killed when the firearm of a policeman discharged during a party in Chaguaramas on Sunday.

Media reports quoted police as saying that law enforcement authorities had just taken away some illegal drugs from three people, when one of them tried to pull the officer’s gun from holster. A struggle ensued causing the firearm to go off hitting Mohammed who was with friends some distance away.

However some have disputed this version of events, saying the officer had arrested the man after finding him with the drugs in his possession, but he was not placed in handcuffs.

While escorting the man through the crowd, he escaped, causing the officer to pull out his firearm and open fire on the man. The officer missed his target and instead shot Mohammed. The escaped man still has not been caught.

The number of people killed by police so far this year is 35, while the number of murders in Trinidad and Tobago is 305 compared to 286 for the corresponding period last year.

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Trinidad police station comes under attack after gang leader killed

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams Friday denied any police involvement in the murders of three men, including a Jamaican national, as a police organization called on the coalition People’s Partnership government to consider a state of emergency in the volatile Laventille area, along the east-west corridor.
Police public relations officer, Inspector Wayne Mystar, speaking on radio here Friday, had confirmed that the Besson Police Station had come under fire hours after the three men, including Sherwin Thomas of Jamaica had been shot and killed.

“Shortly afterwards…police officers from the Besson Street police station had to take evasive action as a result of shots being fired at the station from a northerly direction. Members of the Guard and Emergency Branch were called in to render support,” he said.

Williams told a news conference that he wanted to give the public assurance “that we would be working continuously to ensure that we can in fact bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice within the shortest period of time”.

He said preliminary investigations have shown that those involved in the killings “were clearly not law enforcement” and that witnesses have been interviewed.

Police have come under intense scrutiny here with a Roman Catholic priest, Father Clive Harvey expressing concern at what he termed the extra-judicial killings. Figure show that 34 people have been killed by police so far this year.

Williams said he was also giving the public the assurances that everything is being done to “solve this heinous crime”.

Meanwhile, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Social and Welfare Association (TTPSWA), Anand Ramesar said an ‘analysis of the criminal activities taking place in the East Dry River, members of the police service are recommending that the prime minister should consider a state of emergency to be permitted in that particular area”.

Ramesar said while he was pleased that National Security Minister Gary Griffith had visited the area soon after the incident, “we are not seeing the leadership of the police service coming down to the police station…meeting with the police officers”.

He said he was also urging that counseling be provided for the officers and their families “in relation to what would have happened in relation to the shooting…”

Among those killed was Dillon Skeete that the media described as a gang leader and the police acknowledging had been a prime suspect in the recent murder of a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force.

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A police station on the outskirts of the capital came under gunfire on Thursday night following a gun attack in the area that left three people, including a Jamaican national dead.

Police public relations officer, Inspector Wayne Mystar, speaking on radio here Friday, said that shortly after 9.30 pm (local time), police officers had received information about gunshots from an area in Laventille, along the east-west corridor.

“Shortly afterwards…police officers from the Besson Street police station had to take evasive action as a result of shots being fired at the station from a northerly direction. Members of the Guard and Emergency Branch were called in to render support,” he said.

He said police investigations so far reveal that five men were in the Laventille area when a black vehicle and the occupants inside fire gunshots on the group, hitting all of them.

“As a result three persons succumbed to their injuries, two are presently at the Port of Spain general Hospital. Information is that one Dillon Skette, Joel Cash and one Jamaican national, Sherwin Thomas deceased,” he added.

Media reports Friday identified Skeete as a gang leader.

Mystar said that the situation “is quite calm” and that the area is secured and police officers have returned to their normal duties.

Asked whether the police are expecting reprisals, Mystar replied “in situations like these we expect the unexpected so we expect anything to happen so we are on alert to ensure that law and order is maintained”.