(Trinidad Express) The chief executive of a small company which recovers vehicles using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology was shot on Friday night and later died at the Port of Spain General Hospital.
Rawle Francis, 38, was the CEO of GPS Experts and, according to the police, around 10.45 p.m. on Friday he and his girlfriend, Rachel Chase, were returning to his car that had been parked along Jerningham Avenue, Belmont, after just having purchased corn soup from the food-vending area at Queen’s Park East.
Police said a masked gunman walked up to Francis and opened fire, hitting him several times, before running off.
Francis’s girlfriend got into the driver’s seat of his car and took him to the Port of Spain General Hospital nearby. He was immediately treated, but at 4.30 a.m. Francis succumbed to his injuries.
The Sunday Express also spoke to a few of Francis’s friends who took to social media to vent their anger over his death, while calling for “something” to be done.
One of his friends, who did not want to be named, said he was one of the founding members of a local car enthusiast website but he recently left the company and was no longer associated with it.
He said his version of what happened to Francis differed from that of the police.
He said he was told Francis was in the midst of pursuing a stolen vehicle in Belmont, during which the shooting incident occurred in the Jerningham Avenue area.
The police said they knew nothing about that.
The friend said Francis recently created GPS Experts and it was a company doing well and expanding.
The murder toll for 2014 stood at 59 up to last night, while the toll last year at the same time was 44.