(Trinidad Guardian) The murder toll continued to rise, after two men were gunned down at Desperlie Crescent, Laventille, on Thursday. Police said the deaths of Amol Peters, 24, and Randy Mason, 35, of Eighth Avenue, Malick, Barataria, were linked to the ongoing gang warfare over five guns stolen from a known criminal in Laventille. The latest killings pushed the number of people killed over the stolen guns to eight in two weeks in Laventille, and the murder toll to 236 for the year. Police said around 1.30 pm, residents heard several loud explosions and when they checked, they saw Peters and Mason slumped in a silver Nissan Almera. Residents called the police. Senior Supt John Martinez, ASP Sahadeo Singh, ASP Jayson Forde, acting Insp Kirt Griffith and a party of officers visited the scene. Police said believed that the gunman had been sitting in the back seat of the car when he shot the two men. They said, too, that the victims must have known the assailant. Both Peters and Mason were not known to residents in the area.
Their bodies were viewed by the district medical officer and then removed to the Forensic Science Centre. At the crime scene on Thursday, residents said there were daily shootings in the community. “This happens all over,” a resident said. “Why we should be afraid when it happening even in town? “Is every day you hearing gunshots here.” During the past three weeks, 11 other people were killed in east Port-of-Spain and Laventille because of gang violence and the theft of the five guns from Picton Road.
