A Venezuelan national was killed on Saturday night at his home in Mc Bean Village in Couva.
According to a police report, around 8 pm, moments after Joel Fernandez pulled up in the yard of his home which is located in a side road obliquely opposite Old Mac, gunmen alighted a black Audi and opened fire on him. Police said Fernandez died on the scene. Police believe that the men in the Audi followed Fernandez’s vehicle waiting for the opportune time to kill him.
Two of Fernandez’s friends who went to the scene were too distraught to talk but said that they were very saddened and shocked by the news.
“We don’t know why they kill him but he worked very hard here in Trinidad. This is just terrible. Sad. Very sad. I’m shocked,” Fernandez’s friend, who did not want to disclose his name, said.
Police said Fernandez along with a woman were well known in the area as they sold brand name sneakers and slippers under a mango tree opposite the Savannah along the Old Southern Main Road, Mc Bean Village.
When Guardian Media returned to the scene on Sunday, the gate to the house was locked. There was no one at the house.
However, neighbours, who wished to remain mum said that they were “pretty shaken up” over the incident.
One neighbour who requested strict anonymity said: “Here is usually a quiet little residential area. We real shock to hear what happened to the Spanish man. Things real bad in this country.”
A police source alleged that some Venezuelan nationals are being followed by their enemies from Venezuela to Trinidad and, according to the source, are “dealing with them.”
However, investigating police officers are yet to determine a motive for Fernandez’s murder.
