Laven­tille res­i­dents say they are ner­vous fol­low­ing the mid-morn­ing mur­der of Nef­ta “Nep­py” Charles on Tues­day. They fear there could be reprisal shoot­ings and mur­ders.

Po­lice said Charles was stand­ing along Sandy Trace, Up­per St Barbs, Laven­tille Road, around 10 am, when a grey Kia Sportage drove up and two armed men, dressed in po­lice tac­ti­cal and cam­ou­flage wear, opened fire on him. The res­i­dents lat­er took Charles to the Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal, where he was pro­nounced dead.

When re­porters vis­it­ed the area yes­ter­day, res­i­dents lament­ed that this lat­est killing would add fu­el to the cur­rent wave of gang-re­lat­ed vi­o­lence rav­aging the Laven­tille, Bel­mont and Port-of-Spain com­mu­ni­ties.

De­spite Charles’ al­leged ties to the crim­i­nal un­der­world, one man said, “He was a good one. They kill a good one.”

A to­tal of 31 spent 5.56mm shells were re­cov­ered at the scene of the shoot­ing.

A 46-year-old man who was stand­ing on the road at the time was shot mul­ti­ple times. He was list­ed in crit­i­cal con­di­tion at hos­pi­tal. — An­na-Lisa Paul