(Trinidad Express) A cocoa farmer and co-owner of his family’s estate was shot dead inside his vehicle in Paria on Friday night.
He was one of four men murdered between Friday evening and yesterday.
The murder toll for the year so far stood at 82 up to last night.
Police said Javed Omar-deen, 33, of Upper Gomes Trace, Brasso Seco, Paria, was meeting with someone while sitting in his vehicle around 6.15 p.m. when he was shot.
Around 9.20 p.m., a neighbour of Omardeen’s who was returning home observed his white Honda Civic in the same position, with the car’s house light on and the vehicle’s engine idling.
The neighbour stopped to have a conversation but noticed the driver’s window shattered and Omardeen slumped over the centre console, with bloodstains on his chest.
Police said they believed he may have bled to death.
No one was held in connection with the murder up to yesterday.
Omardeen and his mother in 2021 defeated 36 entrants at the 2021 National Cocoa Awards Competition.
They have a local chocolate-making brand, Omarbeans Organic, a family-based, single-estate, tree-to-bar chocolate company.
In an unrelated incident at La Retreat Road, Arima, Terence Romero, 59, of Pine Settlement, Ojoe Road, Sangre Grande, and a 63-year-old man only known as “Pa” were killed Friday night by men wearing gear with the marking “Police” on them.
The two men were liming with a group when three masked men entered the premises and began shooting.
A third man was shot in the leg.
First responders took the three to the Arima Health Facility, where Romero and Pa were pronounced dead.
In the other incident, police officers were notified of a body under a guava tree in Morvant yesterday.
The deceased was about six feet tall and had a tattoo with Psalm 91:4.
His hands and feet were tied.
Police had no information on the man’s identity or a motive for his killing yesterday.
