Gunmen opened fire at a bar in Santa Cruz on Tuesday night, killing three men and leaving a fourth fighting for his life at hospital.
The victims were liming at Webster’s Bar on Money Avenue at around 11.30 pm, when two gunmen entered the establishment and began shooting at the patrons.
As the first victim, Brandon Charles, fell to the ground, the killers then opened fire on Dale Alexander, who was hiding under a pool table. They then robbed him of jewellery and other valuables before shooting Brian Parouse on their way out of the bar.
Brandon Charles
Charles, 36, was the proprietor of One Stop Grocery and lived at Pipiol Road. Alexander, 43, was a mason who lived at Jigger Hill, while Parouse, 57, was a taxi driver of Mc Carty Street.
Joel David, 53, of Sam Boucaud Road, Cantaro Village, was shot in the back and buttocks and was hospitalised in critical condition up to late yesterday.
When police arrived at the scene around 11.45 pm, Parouse was still alive but they were prevented from leaving the scene with the injured man by an unruly crowd who wanted to protect him. He later died in the back of the police vehicle.
Brian Parouse
Parouse’s relatives said the incident had affected the entire community.
“It is not something that happened to him alone, it’s something that happened to the community,” said a female relative, who did not give her name.
She added: “It would have been a massacre because all the other people in the bar were family more or less. They went there to watch the Lakers play.”
Dale Alexander
Relatives said Parouse was very involved in sports and loved football. He was an assistant coach in Chaguanas and had earlier that night brought home the team’s soiled uniforms for his wife to wash.
Parouse was a father of five and grandfather of two.
Alexander’s relatives said the father of three went to work, returned home and indulged in “the usual lime.”
One woman said: “He was like a salt-fish, good with everybody.”
