(Trinidad Express) FOR being the parents of a 33-year-old gang member, a Diego Martin mother and father paid with their lives yesterday afternoon when gunmen first shot and killed their son then, realising his parents were at home, murdered them as well.
In a separate incident which occurred earlier, also in Diego Martin, another man was killed, and he is said to be the first cousin of the murdered gang member.
The incidents occurred between 3 and 5 p.m. yesterday.
The first murder took place at around 3 p.m. on Sierra Leone Road, Diego Martin, where gunmen walked up to 20-year-old Andre Ross, who was walking along the road, and shot him several times about the body, killing him on the spot.
A team of officers of the Western Divisional Task Force were first on the scene, followed by officers of the Crime Scene Unit, who arrived to examine the body and search for clues.
Residents of Sierra Leone Road claimed they did not know the victim.
Around 5 p.m., the three other murders occurred at a house located off Mercer Road, Diego Martin.
There, four gunmen climbed a steep, treacherous hill and located their target, gang member Timothy James. He was outside his house when they found him.
Police said James was very well known to them and was currently out on bail on gun possession charges, but although he was also a suspect in a number of shootings in the area, there was never enough evidence against him that would lead to an arrest.
Police said the gunmen shot James twice, killing him on the spot.
His parents, George James, 50, and Theresa Nelson, 55, walked out their small, ramshackle house when they heard the gunshots.
The gunmen then turned to them and opened fire, hitting both James and Nelson several times about their bodies.
They, too, died instantly.
The surviving members of the family, George and Janice James’s other son and daughter, arrived on the scene around 6.30 p.m., but they were too much in a state of shock to make a comment.
They both cried as they climbed the hill to see the bodies of their parents and brother.
A team of officers led by Snr Supt Ishmael David visited both scenes, and Homicide Bureau officers are continuing investigations.
The murder toll stood at 124 up to last night.