(Trinidad Express) Sunday was the third time that Marcus Cooper, a construction worker who lived at Madingo Road, Princes Town, was shot. This time, he did not survive.
A quarrel at a bar a few days before Christmas is believed to be the cause of the death of the 27-year-old man, who was shot and killed while liming with friends on Sunday evening.
His father, Earl Cooper, said he was not at the scene when the shooting occurred a few feet away from where his son was staying.
Cooper, 53, said someone called him around 6 p.m. while he was visiting his family at Rio Claro and told him his son had just died.
He left Rio Claro immediately to go to Madingo Road, where he saw Marcus’s body in the driver’s seat of his recently bought blue Mazda 323 vehicle.
Cooper said he was told that Marcus was driving that vehicle along Madingo Road when he stopped to drop off a friend at his home.
Two other occupants in the vehicle—labourers Ojo Sambury, 21, and Stefon Britton, 23—were also injured. Sambury got grazed on his right shoulder by a bullet.
Britton is warded at the San Fernando General Hospital after being shot five times in both legs and once in his stomach, said Britton’s father Leroy Johnson.
Cooper said, “The men like they were waiting on him (Marcus). There was a car on the junction. The back car door, it was giving problems. My son stopped and the person in front came out of the car to open the back door for the other guy and that was when they began to spray down the car.”
“That happened about 5.30. He stayed right there behind the steering. When I went last night, his body was lying down behind the wheel. The indicator light was on. His hand probably jammed it.”
Cooper said a few days before Christmas, Marcus was liming at a bar called Illusions at New Grant, Princes Town, when someone threw rum on him.
“Nobody will take that. But he forgot that. But the person did not forget that. That could be a part of what happened. They had a little squabble and a little fight and since then he has been receiving death threats.”
Cooper said the first time Marcus was shot was by police when he tried to run away from them after they caught him smoking marijuana and the second time was when he was returning to his father’s home in Lengua Village after a stickfighting competition.
Marcus was described by his father as a person who was “loved by all”. But some residents said he was also a suspect in various crimes in the community.
But Cooper described his son as hard-working and denied he was involved in any criminal activities. He said his son had planned to fix his car properly this year and become a taxi driver.
The last time he spoke to his son was on New Year’s Day at 4 a.m., Cooper said.
Marcus had three brothers. Cooper said dealing with his son’s death was difficult, but he had no choice.
Police officers from the Princes Town Police Station are continuing investigations.
