(Trinidad Guardian) Gun violence has again rocked Fyzabad, leaving a young man dead and his cousin in a critical condition.
The murder of 25-year-old Hakeem “Skinny” Peters came five days after Joshua Mahabir, a father of three, was gunned down at John Jules Trace.
Investigations are still ongoing but information unearthed so far has led officers to believe the two murders may be linked.
Police were told that shortly before 8.30 pm on Monday, Kyon Ramdhan, 21, was reversing a Nissan Versa out of his uncle’s yard at Delhi Road with Peters in the front passenger seat.
Several loud explosions were heard and on checking, Ramdhan’s uncle saw the vehicle crashing into some fig trees along the side of the road. Ramdhan got out and ran to the back of the house. Peters was slumped over on the driver’s seat with gunshot wounds to the back. The keys were still in the ignition and the engine was still running.
Ramdhan’s father took him to the hospital where he underwent surgery. Police retrieved 50 spent shell casings at the scene.
When Guardian Media visited Peters’ home at Lezama Trace, South Oropouche, his mother was not at home.
However, a relative said Peters was unemployed, as he was still recovering from gunshot injuries he sustained during a hit on his life in 2020 in San Fernando.
He said Peters was shot seven times, including twice in the head.
The relative believes Peters followed wrong company and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Peters’ neighbour Marvin Allen, who lived a few houses away from him, was fatally shot last month in front his home following an argument with a man. When Guardian Media visited Ramdhan’s uncle’s home, a woman refused to comment on the incident.
However, residents said gun violence in the community had left them scared. The street where Mahabir was killed is within the area.
Rennison Ramdin said he and his brother were repairing an old television at the back of their house when they heard the rapid shots.
“We hear like something hitting the galvanize, bow, bow, bow and then we realise is gunshots going up the road there, fast, fast.”
He said they were scared so they waited a while and then walked to the scene but the police had already cordoned off the area.
“The place around here quite, so we fraid to come out, nobody want to come out. We eh know what going on,” he lamented.
Ramdin suggested that the police increase mobile patrols in the area. There have been ten murders in the South Western Division for the year, with five occurring in Fyzabad, police said.
