A recruiting officer with the United States Army was among four persons killed in two incidents in Laventille on Tuesday night. Sgt Simeon Roderique, 38, of Brooklyn, and Nickal Hoyte, 32, a mechanical engineering student, were shot dead by robbers at Pashley Street and Old St Joseph Road, Laventille. Charmaine Grant, 38, a sales clerk, and her boyfriend, Ashton Woods, 37, a former URP foreman, of Snake Valley, were shot dead at her apartment at Block 22 in Trou Macaque.
These killings pushed the murder toll for the year to 435.
Police said Roderique was driving a rented silver Almera car along the Old St Joseph Road around midnight when it was hit from behind by another vehicle.Roderique parked his vehicle and Hoyte later arrived on the scene to assist him.
Two gunmen approached the men and opened fire, killing them on the spot. Their assailants escaped in a waiting vehicle.Roderique's relatives said they believed the men were victims of an attempted robbery.One relative, a police officer, who did not want to be identified said: "I looked at the scene and believe the gunmen were trying to steal the car."
The relative described the two victims as "model people in society" and said Hoyte "had never even held a cigarette." Roderique, who had dual citizenship, was based in Queen's, New York. The father of four arrived in T&T last Thursday on a short vacation and was due to return to New York on Sunday.His sister, Giselle Gibbs, told the T&T Guardian the killers had no motive to kill Roderique.
"He did not have any money and he was not a gangster or a murderer." she added. She said Hoyte, a mechanic, went to assist Roderique after he was involved in the accident."We called him because he is a mechanic at Neal and Massy in Morvant and we knew that corner is hot. He (Roderique) called us and said somebody just bounce his car," Gibbs said.
Relatives said Hoyte was studying for his Bachelor's Degree and "fixing Peugeots at Neal and Massy." In the other incident, Grant and Woods were at her apartment around 10.30 pm when two gunmen stormed the house. Woods, a father of two, was shot several times about the body. Grant also was killed.The bodies were viewed by the district medical officer and ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre, St James.Grant's son, Keon, said he left his mother's house just minutes before the murders.
"I would have died. I am sure the gunmen would not have wanted any witnesses. I told my mother ten minutes before she was killed that I was going to my girlfriend's house and I left," he said.Keon said he had only walked a short distance when he heard several gunshots.
"I thought it sounded very close to my house and I called her. She did not answer. I went back to the house and my uncle had to hold me back," Keon said.
He described his mother as a "cool, loving woman who loved life and going to church every Tuesday."Hermina Woods, Ashton's mother, described the slaying as "senseless.""He wasn't a murderer. I don't have to cover for my son. My child never get tie up," she said.
Homicide officers are continuing investigations into both incidents.
