(Trinidad Express) Officers of the Port of Spain Division are bracing themselves for bloodshed in the Laventille area after an 11-year-old boy was shot and killed a stone’s throw away from his home early yesterday morning.
Police reports said Kareem Alphonso, 11, who is originally from Church Street, Laventille, was with friends Jacob Peters, 19, and Justin Abraham, 19, of Tobago, on the ground floor of their home at Building One, Dorata Street, Laventille, when a gunman approached the trio around 12.25 a.m. and opened fire.
Alphonso, the son of jailed murder accused Barry Alphonso, was shot in the neck, chest and head.
The boy was taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital by officers of the North Eastern Division Task Force following the shooting and died after noon yesterday.
Peters was shot about the body and died at the scene.
Relatives of Alphonso yesterday said his death was unfortunate and could lead to more bloodshed.
At the apartments at Dorata Street, two aunts of Peters spoke kindly of him, saying he was a fun-loving person who loved to eat.
Juliet Peters said: “He was a very playful fella who liked to play and ramp. Very greedy, he liked to eat. December 24 is his birthday and we used to have fun because that was the day we used to eat all the food for Christmas.
“He was nice and loving. The most I would miss about him was when he came home and he wanted to go by everybody to eat.”
Another aunt, Heather Peters, said she was hurt by what happened.
“I feel very hurt and shocked. I don’t know why this thing happened to him. Jacob is a nice fella. He miserable, it true, but he don’t deserve this. He was never in trouble, he never did anything to no-one. He was just liming out here as normal,” Peters said, as she broke down in tears.
Abraham, who is originally from Tobago, was hit in the arm and is at hospital in a stable condition.
