(Trinidad Express) Gunmen have claimed the lives of seven people between last Friday night and yesterday morning.
Among the killings was a triple murder at Laventille yesterday morning. Two other people were found burnt beyond recognition at Claxton Bay.
Police believe they were shot before being set on fire as bullet shells were found near their bodies.
The other two incidents took place in Chaguanas and Sangre Grande with the deaths of Ganesh Ramroop, 44, and 28-year-old Sean Duncan.
The latest killings have carried the country’s murder toll for the year so far to 223 according to an Express count.
Deputy Police Commissioner Mervyn Richardson said in a brief telephone interview yesterday that the murders were deeply troubling to the Police Service.
He and acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams plans to meet this morning to address the issue.
The first incident took place around 7.45 p.m. Friday with Duncan’s death.
Investigators said Duncan, a construction worker, was playing cards in his yard at Mulchan Street, Guaico, Sangre Grande, with friends when two men, one dressed like a police officer and the other in camouflage clothing, opened fire on the group.
Duncan was hit several times about the body and died at the scene while another member of the group, Jude Andell, 30, was shot in the right leg.
He was taken to the Sangre Grande District Hospital where he was treated and discharged. Police said they discovered 19 nine millimetre bullet shells at the scene.
Around the same time, Ramroop, 42, of Chase Village was found by a relative in a car parked along the Chase Village flyover with a bullet wound to the stomach.
He died while being taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility.
And in Laventille, police said residents at Desperlie Crescent heard several loud explosions between midnight Friday and 4 a.m. yesterday.
Investigators said residents contacted officers of the Besson Street Police Station who went to the scene and found the bodies of Jamal Michael Justin Fox, 28, aka “Blacka”, his nephew Jamal Fox, 21, and Shaquille Bishop, 21, in a house.
Officers said they had to break through a door to get inside the house where they found the victims.
A team of officers led by Snr Supt Wayne Boyd, Asp Ajith Persad and Insps Morgan, Ettienne and Birch visited the house and carried out enquiries.
Those three murders have since been classified as gang-related, said police.
DCP Richardson said for the past few months there had been a decrease in murders, with an upsurge only taking place this weekend.
He said for the year so far there has been a 17 per cent decrease in murders compared to last year.
“What I can say is that the police is working around the clock to get a hold on this upsurge. We have had a pretty good few months with the upsurge taking place only over this weekend,” he said.
Asked what may have contributed to the latest murders, Richardson said: “It is too early to say, but I want to assure you that we are working feverishly to get it under control. We will not retreat. We will get it under control.”
Homicide detectives are continuing investigations into the seven murders.
In a statement at the opening of Parliament last Friday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the legislative agenda would include more anti-crime measures. Noting that last week rival gangs were shooting at each other in Port of Spain East, she said the anti-gang law must be enforced.
In August 2011, Persad-Bissessar declared a limited state of emergency after 11 people were killed in under 48 hours.
