( Trinidad Express) MOMENTS after attending the funeral service of murder victim Kerry Thomas, who was killed on Carnival Tuesday night, an Arouca man also lost his life after he was shot in D’Abadie yesterday.
It was less than five minutes after leaving the funeral that Clifton “Picky” Fernandez was approached by gunmen and shot while in his car, police said.
The incident took place around 1.15 p.m. outside D’Abadie Poultry Mart at the corner of La Resource Road and Eastern Main Road.
Investigators said Fernandez, 55, of Seventh Street, Bon Air Gardens, had attended Thomas’s funeral service a short distance away from the poultry depot.
Thomas was shot dead around 11.15 p.m. at the corner of Waterloo Road and Monroe Road as he was walking to his Bon Air, Arouca, home.
After departing the service, police said, Fernandez pulled up outside the poultry mart in his grey Toyota Altis and proceeded to purchase a Lotto ticket.
Upon returning to his vehicle, a blue car pulled up close by and one of the occupants of that vehicle opened fire on Fernandez, killing him on the spot.
His death has pushed the murder toll for the year so far to 62 according to an Express tally.
Officers said they have classified his death as drug-related.
They added that Fernandez may have been followed by the men after leaving the funeral service.
Investigators said they have received key information on the identity of the killer and are confident that an arrest would be made soon.
Visiting the scene were detectives from the Arouca and Arima stations, led by Snr Supt David Abraham and including Insps Parks and Baptiste and Sgt Figaro.
Homicide detectives are continuing investigations.
In another matter, the body found in Tacarigua on Monday has been identified as that of 39-year-old Aneal Chatterpaul of Curepe.
Police positively identified the deceased yesterday.
Chatterpaul, of Watts Street, Curepe was found on Monday morning with a chop wound to the neck. Police officers were alerted to the discovery by farmer Harideo Armoogam, who went to tend to his baigan plantation on Orange Grove Road Extension, Tacarigua.
The body was found some 20 feet off the roadway in the field.
Armoogam said he went to harvest his produce to take to the market when he found the body. He added that the discovery was “strange to him” and he “started to shake to see a dead body in my garden”.
