(Trinidad Guardian) While several families ushered in the New Year with jubilation, the family and friends of Natalia Cooper were in tears following her murder.
Cooper, 25, was fatally shot while her three-year-old son was wounded after her car was shot up at her Princes Town home on Ole Year’s night.
Her son, the older of her two children, was shot in the left leg and remains in hospital in a stable condition.
Police said around 8.30 pm on Thursday Cooper was reversing her silver Nissan Tiida in her driveway at 3rd Company Road, Indian Walk when an assailant or assailants opened fire. The car crashed into a wall.
Upon checking after hearing the loud explosions, residents found Cooper and her son bleeding. They were removed from the vehicle and rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, Cooper died before she got to the Princes Town Health Facility while her son was treated and transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital. He is in a stable condition.
Police said Cooper’s boyfriend Kadeem Jordon, 27, was murdered in Pleasantville last April. His killers crashed their vehicle into his and shot him several times.
Police believed then that he was killed because of his connection to a relative who is known drug dealer in North Trinidad.
Investigators have not yet determined whether their murders were linked.
Officers recovered a live round of 9 mm ammunition, two projectiles and four spent shells at the scene of the shooting.
There was no one at home when Guardian Media visited Cooper’s address yesterday. An autopsy is expected to be performed on Cooper’s body next week at the Forensic Science Centre, Port of Spain. Cpl Ramdhan of the Princes Town Police is investigating.
Cooper’s murder brought the total number of women killed for 2020 close to 50.