Senior Investigative Reporter
shaliza.hassanali@guardian.co.tt
There was a bloody start to the weekend after eight people were killed and two wounded in incidents in Port-of-Spain, Arima, Sangre Grande and San Fernando. The murders of the six men and two women occurred between 4 pm on Friday and 11 am yesterday, with four occurring in the Port-of-Spain district.
A three-year-old was injured in the shooting spree.
In the first incident around 4 pm Friday in Gonzales, gunmen opened fire on Hasani Bonas and Jaheim Charlos at Agostini Street. This brought the number of men murdered in that area to eight in just the last five weeks.
Bonas and Charlos were shot several times as they stood on the street.
Almost five hours later, three armed men came out of a vehicle and went on a rampage at the corner of Piccadilly and Duke Streets, Port-of-Spain, killing Jemerc Fonrose, 20, and Kerwin Mc Leod, 44, who were standing on the pavement in Mango Rose.
Also shot was Donald Singh, 66, who had to seek medical attention.
Fonrose, a porter at Holiday Foods, was killed when he went to purchase pork and fries at a food stall a short distance from his home.
An hour later, police responded to reports of a shooting at the back of a woman’s house at Foster Road, Sangre Grande. At the scene they found Shawn Nigel George, 36, lying motionless with two bullet wounds to his chest.
Around 3.50 am yesterday, construction worker Dwayne Richardson, 35, was found in a pool of blood at his Maturita Trace, Arima, home. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the upper part of his body while his girlfriend, Latoya Voisin, 31, a YTEPP student, was found dead on a bed.
A three-year-old boy who was also shot in that incident was taken to the Arima General Hospital for treatment.
The last shooting involved businesswoman Carissa Ramrattan who was killed near the compound of the Toyota car dealership in South Park, San Fernando.
At the home of Fonrose, one of the Port-of-Spain victims, his father, a police officer, was not at home when Guardian Media visited. However, a male relative who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Fonrose had gone out to buy his favourite meal and had planned to return to his apartment to play videogames on his PlayStation 4.
While Fonrose was awaiting his order at the food stall, the gunmen opened fire, killing him on the spot.
“He doesn’t really be outside, so. Is work and home,” the relative said, adding that the killing left him feeling hopeless.
“Nowhere is safe in Trinidad,” he said.
The owner of the food establishment where the fatal shootings occurred, Elizabeth Cuffy, said she would be closing her stall for an indefinite period. She said the hurt and pain of the community would fall on the shooters one day.
Residents of Mango Rose wondered why the killers did not go after the gangsters they had been in constant war with. They said the frequent shootings in their community were painful reminders that at any time someone could be targeted and killed.
Criminologist Dr Randy Seepersad, who was asked to comment on the impact gang rivalries and random shootings are having on residents in hot spot communities, said the shootings affected people psychologically and it would be very costly for the State to offer help to those affected.
Seepersad said unless criminals step away from their inter-gang rivalries, those types of crimes would continue and fighting among gangs would inflict collateral damage.
“The bottom line is psychological trauma associated with inter-gang violence is equivalent to almost living in a war zone where at any time you can be killed,” he said.