(Trinidad Guardian) Out-spoken community activist Avinash “Krysis” Seepersad was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Enterprise, Chaguanas, on Sunday night.
According to reports, around 11.50 pm, police officers responded to the report of a shooting at John Street, off Mano Street in Enterprise.
When they arrived on the scene, they found Seepersad, also known as Abdul Wakeel, 38, of Crown Trace, Enterprise, lying unconscious at the side of the road.
Seepersad, who was reportedly shot seven times, including twice to his head, was taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility, where he died whilst undergoing emergency surgery.
An autopsy is expected to be performed at the Forensic Science Centre in St James later this week.
Unlike Seepersad, who was never shy around a camera, several residents declined to comment on his murder when a news team from Guardian Media visited the location yesterday afternoon.
Seepersad, a self-professed former associate of the Unruly Isis gang, gained notoriety because he regularly gave interviews and posted social media videos on gang-related violence in his community following an upsurge in 2017. He was also vocal during crime talks with then-national security minister Edmund Dillon in April of that year.
Seepersad appeared in the Al Jazeera documentary Caribbean to Caliphate, which sought to examine why this country had become a recruitment hub for the Islamic State.
In August 2017, Seepersad was charged with resisting arrest, using insulting/annoying language, assaulting a police officer and malicious damage, arising out of an incident in which he was stopped and searched by a group of police officers. Seepersad claimed that he had retaliated after the officers made disparaging and demeaning remarks about his recently deceased wife.
Guardian Media understands that Seepersad also had two sets of similar pending charges for other run-ins with police. He also had a pending firearm possession charge from 2009 and an attempted murder charge for which he was awaiting trial.
In a brief telephone interview yesterday, attorney Fareed Ali, who had represented Seepersad since 2010, said he was heartbroken by his death. Ali said he was informed of the murder by Seepersad’s parents, who live in the United States, and claimed that he could not go back to sleep as he recounted his fond memories of Seepersad.
“He was a decent man contrary to public opinion,” Ali said.
Contacted yesterday, Islamic Front leader Umar Abdullah, who worked with Seepersad on community outreach projects in Enterprise, said while he was saddened by the news of Seepersad’s murder, it did not come as a surprise.
“We expected this to happen sometime now,” Abdullah said.
He claimed Seepersad was continuously attempting to change his life but was affected by a lack of support from relatives, who live abroad, and members of the community.
“The death of his wife took a toll on him and he was not the same,” Abdullah said, as he noted that Seepersad suffered from medical and mental health issues.
“He was a special case and needed special attention…I have to blame myself also because I did not do enough,” he added.
Abdullah said his fondest memory of Seepersad was seeing him leading prayers at a community masjid several years ago.
“This was who he was and this is what we have to remember him for,” Abdullah said.
