(Trinidad Express) Two Freeport men were ambushed and shot dead inside their vehicle in Chaguanas yesterday.
The men — Joel Malchan, 29, and Dharmendra Sookdeo, 22 — were in a white Nissan AD wagon headed into Chaguanas when the traffic lights at the Chaguanas Main Road turned red.
Sookdeo, who was driving the vehicle, stopped at the lights and a gunman opened the front passenger door and fired several shots.
Police said the gunman alighted from another Nissan AD wagon, parked near the Chaguanas overpass.
Malchan, of Uquire Road, was shot in the abdomen, while Sookdeo, of Lime Fruit Road, was hit in the chest.
Police said the car veered off the roadway and stopped.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said the gunman jumped into the waiting car and sped off south along the Solomon Hochoy Highway.
The accident caused panic among passers-by, who ran into nearby fastfood outlets to safety.
The Chaguanas lay-by, off the north-bound lane of the highway, was cordoned off as the bodies were being removed to the Forensic Science Centre. The vehicle was taken to the Chaguanas Police Station.
A team of officers, led by senior superintendent Johnny Abraham, and including corporal Cleon John, intercepted the getaway car near the Freeport overpass and arrested a suspect.
Abraham said the suspect was detained ten minutes after the shooting.
“I want to thank the public for contacting us in such a timely manner. It is because of their information we were able to make that arrest so quickly. And I also want to thank the officers who braved the heavy rainfall to get the job done,” he said.