Senior Reporter
anna-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt
A 21-year-old man who was standing outside his house sharing a meal he had cooked with two friends, died on Monday night when gunmen opened fire on the group.
Emmerson “Kyle” Boucher and Michael De Gazon, 27, were both shot and died at hospital whilst undergoing treatment.
A 40-year-old man from Reid Lane, Arima, was also injured and hospitalised.
The shooting occurred around 9 pm at Edma Avenue, Samaroo Village.
Boucher’s relatives said yesterday that Boucher had cooked some beef and went outside to share the food, along with homemade bread, with two friends.
While they were there, they saw a heavily-tinted, dark grey Suzuki Grand Vitara fitted with blue police lights driving up the street.
Believing the occupants were officers on patrol, the group did not disperse until a man whose face was covered with a green bandana came out of the car with an automatic rifle in his hand and opened fire.
Boucher and the others ran off in different directions while the shooter got back into the waiting vehicle which sped off.
The vehicle was found abandoned by officers on patrol around 9.37 pm at Windy Hill, Arouca, and later towed to the Special Evidence Recovery Unit (SERU) at Cumuto.
Investigators found 58 5.56 mm and two 9 mm spent shell casings.
Police linked these latest killings in Arima to an incident at Samaroo Village on August 3 when a young Muslim man was beaten by a group of young men, who were allegedly affiliated with the Seven Gang.
Speaking with Guardian Media at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Boucher’s relatives said, “He was the perfect child.”
A female relative said, “He was very respectful. I never saw him smoke, take a drink, party, lime with bad company, never.”
The relative said she was still in shock.
“He was right in the road where he lived, speaking with his neighbour and another guy that went in the shop to get some items and was walking back. He saw the two of them and stopped and the vehicle just passed and sprayed some bullets.”
Another relative, said Boucher loved to keep himself busy.
“He was a darling, a real sweetheart.
“He was in his car wash business and when he not there, he was by a mechanic, and he used to get a lil end by Carib every now and then, he always on the go.”
The relative said Boucher was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
She smiled briefly as she remembered asking the men whom he had given the beef to, if they were sure about consuming it as she exclaimed, “That beef was hard!”
The relative recalled warning him numerous times about being on the road and his usual refrain was, “I not in nothing, so I have nothing to ‘fraid.”
Another relative said the recent flare-up of gang war in Arima had been negatively impacting innocent lives.
She said, “They don’t care about anybody, they don’t care about the innocent people.”
Business Association: Crime not being addressed
Arima Business Association president Christian Rampersad said enough was not being done to get crime under control.
He said, “The current Commissioner and her team seem to think that roadblocks or traffic exercises are the way to solve crime.
“There is no real intelligence-driven plan to attack crime directly in full.”
Regarding the recent spate of gun violence in Arima, Rampersad said Mayor Balliram Maharaj had taken a bold decision to cancel the much-anticipated J’Ouvert celebration, the highlight of this weekend’s Borough Day celebration.
He said this type of festivity was known for attracting certain behaviours.