Senior Reporterkevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
The murder of Point Fortin labourer Carlton Mackie on Tuesday night has left the community in fear and mourning.
Mackie, 59, was seated on the roadside along Third Street, Techier Village, when two gunmen approached at 7.25 pm and opened fire. He was shot several times.
His nephew, Hakeem Alexander, said Mackie was sitting with a friend, while he was at the corner with another friend when the attack happened. He said they heard gunshots and saw a gunman running toward them, firing several more shots. He and his friend ran to a nearby house, where Alexander received a phone call informing him that his uncle had been killed.
“They are saying some men crept up from a track and started to shoot him. There was no quarrelling or anything,” Alexander said.
“That was all I could have seen because the person was running coming up. The talk is that there was more than one of them.”
At the time of the shooting, Alexander’s girlfriend and four-year-old daughter had just returned home. Upon hearing the gunshots, his girlfriend quickly hugged their daughter and hid until the shooting stopped. When they eventually stepped outside, they found Mackie lying dead.
Traumatised by the incident, they are now staying at a relative’s home for safety.
Point Fortin police, led by Sgt Persad, Sgt Gosine, Sgt Smith, along with Sgt Forbes and PC Bhola of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations: Region Three, responded to the shooting and found Mackie’s body on the roadway with gunshot and chop wounds.
Crime scene investigators recovered two 9 mm shell casings—one marked Hornady Luger and another marked Aguila. District Medical Officer Dr Ramjit-Archie visited the scene and ordered the body removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for an autopsy.