(Trinidad Guardian) While their neighbours celebrated two weddings in their community, a Felicity couple suffered a tragic end after being gunned down upon returning home from the movies on Sunday night.
The bloodied corpses of Narine Kalpoo, 59, and his common-law wife, Lutchmin Jaggernath, 51, fell metres apart from each other after they were ambushed by a gunman who lay in waiting for them, the discovery of which quickly turned the village celebrations into mourning as neighbours gathered at the couple’s Kalpoo Avenue home to find out how they died.
Police said the couple had earlier gone to MovieTowne at Price Plaza, Chaguanas, with Jaggernath’s 18-year-old daughter, Tracy, and her friend. On returning home, they dropped Tracy and the friend at nearby Pierre Road.
On reaching their house around 11 pm, Jaggernath was about to open the gate while Kalpoo sat in his black Nissan Almera when a gunman emerged and opened fire on them. Kalpoo was shot several times in the head and chest while Jaggernath, who attempted to run, was shot in the head.
Police believe the gunman came to execute a hit on Kalpoo’s life and Jaggernath was killed because she was a witness to her husband’s killing. However, they had no suspect or motive for the murders.
By the time police and ambulance arrived, Kalpoo, a father of two, was already dead, slumped in the driver’s seat, while Jaggernath, a mother of three, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Chaguanas District Health Facility.
In trying to piece together what may have led to the couple’s killings, relatives said Kalpoo recently received a sub-contract at the Piarco International Airport, but they could not say whether it had anything to do with his death. Kalpoo had two previous marriages and five years ago he entered a common-law relationship with Jaggernath, who is the wife of his former employee Indar Jaggernath.
Indar said he was at sea on Sunday and only returned to shore yesterday morning. He said he could not think why someone would have killed the couple. Tracy lives in the same residence as Indar.
Kalpoo’s relatives were also baffled as to why they were killed, especially since they were not robbed. A male relative said he was asleep and was awakened by the explosions, but thought it was fireworks from the weddings. He said the community was usually quiet with rare “duck thieves” and small fights among neighbours.
“It is a real shock because if someone beats you, you and that person had an incident that you fought about, but when there is a shooting, you must worry about what is going on in the area,” the relative said.
