Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Weeks before his murder, Kimo Narcist warned his mother that someone wanted him dead.
On Sunday night, that fear became a reality. Now, three young children, aged four, three, and just seven months, are left without their father. As Gemma Narcist cradled her grandchildren at their Claxton Bay home yesterday, she said that although she had tried to prepare herself, she never expected her son’s death to come so soon.
Narcist, 37, the proprietor of Bar Code along Soledad Road West, was shot and killed while at his business place on Sunday night. According to police, he was standing in the kitchen area of a food hut at the front of the bar around 11.30 pm when a vehicle pulled up. A man stepped out, walked directly to the kitchen and shot Narcist in the head. As he collapsed, the gunman fled back to the vehicle, which sped off.
“The week before, he came and told me, ‘Ma, those people are threatening my life, you know. And I am not going back to the bar. I will stay home.’ And he really stayed home this weekend until Thursday,” Narcist said.
Speaking at their home, Gemma said her son had even avoided the bar that he had taken over five months earlier. On Thursday, however, he returned during the day and realised that customers were no longer patronising the business in his absence. Determined to save it, he returned that Friday night with his wife and a worker.
She last saw him alive on Sunday, shortly after she returned home from church. He came by to help her and then left again.
“That was the last time I saw my son alive.”
Gemma said it was not the first time Narcist mentioned threats to his life. While he never disclosed who made them, his decision to stay away from the bar convinced her the danger was real.
“The reason he told me that was to expect that to happen anytime. But I was not looking for it to happen so soon. That is why I could sit down here now and talk to you all and not break down so badly.”
After receiving the news of the shooting, Narcist’s brother-in-law Dillani Roopnarine said he rushed to the scene and found Narcist lying on the ground, bleeding. About 15 to 20 minutes had passed. While others urged him not to intervene, Roopnarine insisted he had to help his family. With assistance from bar patrons, he lifted Narcist into his car and drove him to the San Fernando General Hospital. He could still hear Narcist breathing.
But at the hospital, he said it took a while before medical staff brought a stretcher. Despite attempts to resuscitate him, doctors pronounced Narcist dead on arrival. His body was later taken to the hospital mortuary and transferred to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for an autopsy. Roopnarine said he heard conflicting reports suggesting Narcist may have been set up. One version alleged that someone who came to buy food played a role in the attack.
At the hospital, police retrieved several items from Narcist, including a firearm magazine tucked in his waist, containing 27 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Roopnarine said he had no idea Narcist had the magazine. Gemma said staying away from the bar might have saved her son’s life. But she knew he was not a limer, he simply wanted to work and take care of his family. She remembered once asking him what his purpose in life was.
“He started to cry and said it was to help people.”
When Guardian Media visited the Code Bar, a few friends stood quietly outside. Candles flickered in the kitchen, a solemn tribute to a man they described as generous and peace-loving. Back at home, as the youngest child climbed onto Gemma’s chest and tugged at her cheeks, she said she would now have to raise her grandchildren so their mother could return to work.
