A family of four were ambushed at their home in Sangre Grande during the wee hours of Sunday morning and shot, including a six-year-old girl who later succumbed to her injuries at hospital.
The girl has been identified as Kylie Maloney of Foster Road.
The three others who were wounded included her mother, 26, who was shot in the left leg; the mother’s close male relative, aged 34, and a 45-year-old relative.
According to a police report, at about 2 am three men dressed in camouflage, pretending to be police shouted “Police, police” as they entered the home at Blake Avenue Extension belonging to the 34-year-old victim.
Police said as the men entered the house they opened fire on the four occupants, among them little Kylie, who was shot in the chest.
Police were called to the scene and took all four to the hospital. However, Kylie succumbed to her injuries at about 3.15 am.
Kylie’s mother and the two others were treated and subsequently discharged that morning.
Police officers processed the scene and retrieved 47 5.56 spent shell casings, eight .45 spent shell casings, one live 5.56 round of ammunition; three spent 12 gauge cartridge casings and one live round of 12 gauge cartridge.
One family member, who wished not to be identified, told the Guardian Media that he woke up shortly before 2 am and saw the three men outside the house in the yard.
“I saw them run up to the door. I woke up my brother and ran down to the back. Three gunmen eh and I made sure and wake him up because I know he has his children and I told them they are not police. There were three children in the house at the time and they killed the six-year-old,” the relative said.
“Kylie was a sweet child. She was the sweetest child in the yard, never showing any kind of disrespect. I don’t know why they don’t put down the guns. All of us are big people if you have something with somebody come and talk without the guns,” the relative added.
Another relative said her son was in the house at the time and was glad that he escaped injuries, “I glad my son didn’t get shot but Kylie got killed. How can we talk and laugh knowing that Kylie not around anymore? Her mother woke up in the hospital this morning without her child. Everybody traumatised, the children too.”
Kylie’s mother said when the incident occurred she called the police more than five times and claimed the police arrived late.
She said, “I thought the police would have come fast but the police took long and by the time we reach in the van my child was unresponsive. I trying to call this little girl. I calling she I saying Kylie, Kylie, Kylie till I start to scream and just bawl down the van til we reached the hospital, but she didn’t make it and that was when I realised my child gone, she died.”
She recalled the gunmen shooting them as though they wanted everyone to die.
“I grabbed my two children and started to run when the gunmen started shooting but they come on the next side and started to shoot and come in on us. My boyfriend grabbed the two children and lie down on them. I started to run but I got shot in my foot and I broke my foot too. When they shot my boyfriend they stopped shooting and ran away.”
The young mother said she didn’t know how she would handle her daughter’s death. “I don’t know what to do. I really loved my daughter. That was my eyeball. I can’t do without her. I really don’t know what to do,” she said.
Guardian Media was told that while a motive is yet to be established, it is possible that the shooting was linked to a shooting in August last year where one of the relatives was shot and wounded.
Police officers are also unsure as to the motive but said that the area was “hot” following the murder of 31-year-old David Hinds of Blake Avenue, Sangre Grande.
At about 3 am on Friday, residents of Unity Lane heard several gunshots but took no note of it. However, at about 12.30 pm (Friday) a resident was said to be walking along a track off Unity Lane when he discovered Hinds’ bullet-riddled body.
Police investigators from Homicide Region Two are continuing investigations.
Meanwhile, In an unrelated incident two men were killed in Arima on Saturday night.
They were identified as Anton John Aka “Frosty”, 30 of Mt Zion Road Arima and Kamali Cayonne Aka “Mali”, 29, of Garcia Circular, Mt Zion Road.
At about 9:10 pm the two men were liming at Garcia Circular Arima, when a B15 motor car registration unknown approached and five masked men, all armed with firearms, exited.
The said men then fired shots in their direction and the men ran into a house at that location at and were pursued into a room on the northern side.
The five men then made their escape in said vehicle.
