(Trinidad Guardian) Police patrols in the Diego Martin area have been intensified because of a resurgence of gang warfare in the area. The proactive response by officers of the Western Division comes on the heels of four murders occurring within less than 24 hours of each other over last weekend.
Senior police sources said yesterday that the action was taken to minimise the chance of reprisal attacks, which had been known to immediately follow such violence. Those killed have been identified as:
• Nyron Francis, 24, of Sea Trace, Baguette, Diego Martin;
• Kerron Smith, 21, of Diamond Vale, Diego Martin;
• Kirby Velox, 40, of Sandale Avenue, Diamond Vale, Diego Martin; and
• Isaiah Woods, 21, of Riverside Drive, La Puerta Avenue, Diego Martin.
The murders raised the nation’s homicide toll for the year thus far to 67, as compared to 70 for the same period, last year. In the latest incident, around 6.30 pm on Saturday evening, Velox, Woods and their friend Sebastian Julien, 20, of Upper Richplain Road, Diego Martin, were driving along La Puerta Avenue when they were ambushed by two gunmen.
Investigators said that the gunmen immediately opened fire on the trio and fled the scene after they discharged scores of rounds on the men. The dark-coloured Mitsubishi Lancer they were traveling in reportedly came to a halt after crashing into a nearby wall in the vicinity of Broome Street.
Police said that Velox, the driver of the vehicle, and Woods, the back-seat passenger, both sustained multiple gunshot wounds about their bodies in the attack. They were pronounced dead on the scene. Julien, however, was more fortunate, only suffering wounds to the left arm and abdomen. With the assistance of residents, Julien was taken to Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he received treatment and managed to discharge himself in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Up to late yesterday evening, Julien’s whereabouts remained a mystery to police and close relatives. In another incident, which occurred shortly after noon on Saturday, Smith, the son of a police officer assigned to the Fraud Squad, was shot dead at point-blank range near his home. Homicide detectives said Smith was standing at the Amethyst play park, located within walking distance from his home, when he was approached by a gunman who shot him several times in the head. He, too, died on the scene of the incident.
Investigators are working on the theory that both shootings were connected and stem from gang-related activity. Smith, however, was not known to police to be involved in criminal activity, senior officers said. Also in an interview at Volux’s home, his relatives denied that he was involved in criminal activity. Both shootings are also believed to be connected with the recent murder of Quasi Phillip, who was shot dead near his La Puerta Avenue home on February 23.
Phillip who was driving at the time of the incident was found slumped behind the steering wheel of his Nissan B13 by neighbours. The violence is said to have resurfaced from a long-time feud among rival gangs operating in the La Puerta Avenue and Richplain communities of Diego Martin. When the T&T Guardian visited the area yesterday, residents declined to comment on the situation, but acknowledged that there was an increased police presence in the community.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Superintendent Ishmael David, of the Western Division, said that his officers “would be doing everything in their power to curb violence” in the area. “I want to assure the public that the officers of the Western Division would be doing everything in the best practice of policing to bring these criminal elements to justice,” David said.
In another shooting, late Friday night, which police said might be unrelated to the other two, Francis, a 24-year-old postman, was murdered during an invasion at a friend’s home. According to investigators, Francis, an employee of the T&T Postal Corporation was liming with two friends at a house along Blue Basin Road, Diego Martin, when the incident occurred.
Police said the three men were sitting in the living room of the home watching television, when around 11.15 pm, a gunman burst through the front door of the small dwelling home. In attempting to flee the scene, Francis and his friend Malcom Jacob, 28, of Czan Street, Diego Martin, were both shot multiple times in the back.
Jacob was taken to Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he remained warded up to late yesterday in a stable condition. The third friend managed to escape by hiding in a neighbour’s yard. Post-mortems on the bodies of all four men are expected to be conducted later today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James. Superintendent David, Inspectors Henry Dann and Eric Parks and Sgt Uric Prescott are leading investigations into the murders.