An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

A To­ba­go teenag­er was killed dur­ing a shoot­ing at a bar on the is­land yes­ter­day morn­ing, while her friend was al­so hurt.

Pre­cious Wills, 17, of John Gor­man Trace, Bon Ac­cord, died around 3.12 am at the Up Top Bar & Lounge along Mil­ford Road, Crown Point.

Her 18-year-old friend re­mained ward­ed in a crit­i­cal con­di­tion up to last night at the Scar­bor­ough Re­gion­al Hos­pi­tal.

How­ev­er, po­lice held a sus­pect in con­nec­tion with the in­ci­dent hours af­ter it hap­pened.

Of­fi­cials of the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly, as well as res­i­dents and vis­i­tors to the is­land, have all con­demned the in­ci­dent, with many ex­press­ing shock and dis­may over the record num­ber of killings that have oc­curred in To­ba­go since the year be­gan.

Wills was the ninth homi­cide on the is­land so far this year.

Ac­cord­ing to re­ports, Wills was lim­ing at the bar when a sus­pect be­gan shoot­ing around 3.05 am. Wills was hit in the chest while her friend was al­so hit. Both women were rushed to the Scar­bor­ough Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal but Wills had al­ready suc­cumbed to her in­juries. The oth­er woman un­der­went emer­gency surgery and was ward­ed.

How­ev­er, as Wills is a mi­nor, of­fi­cers say they will al­so be in­ves­ti­gat­ing how she gained ac­cess to the bar and whether she was al­so drink­ing while there.

Of­fi­cers from the Crown Point, Shir­van Road and Scar­bor­ough Homi­cide Bu­reaus are in­ves­ti­gat­ing the in­ci­dent.

In a state­ment hours af­ter the shoot­ing, of­fi­cials of the Up Top Bar & Lounge said, “An un­for­tu­nate in­ci­dent oc­curred last night, while pa­trons were so­cial­is­ing at our es­tab­lish­ment the Up Top Bar in Crown Point.

“A loud ex­plo­sion was heard and up­on in­ves­ti­ga­tion, it was dis­cov­ered that two fe­male pa­trons were in­jured. Of the two, one suc­cumbed to her in­juries and the oth­er is in crit­i­cal con­di­tion at hos­pi­tal. Po­lice are in­ves­ti­gat­ing the mat­ter.”

The bar’s own­er/op­er­a­tor added, “The man­age­ment in­tends to ur­gent­ly and speed­i­ly in­crease se­cu­ri­ty mea­sures at the es­tab­lish­ment which will dis­cour­age this type of oc­cur­rence, as well as pro­vide a mea­sure of safe­ty and com­fort to our pa­trons.”

Ex­tend­ing con­do­lences to Wills’ fam­i­ly and the in­jured woman, Up Top of­fi­cials said, “It is nev­er a good feel­ing to hear news of this na­ture and even worse when it hap­pens on your premis­es. Be rest as­sured that we will do what­ev­er we can to en­sure the safe­ty and com­fort of our pa­trons.”