here are now many questions as to what exactly happened at Singh’s Liquor Store at Bournes Road in St James which resulted in a 14-year-old boy, a pupil of St Anthony’s College, being fatally shot, while his friend landed in a critical condition at hospital after he was also shot by a businessman yesterday.
Initially, it was reported that the teenagers attempted to rob the businessman of his cash sales.
However, police officers late yesterday received information that Luke Williams and another teen went into the store to purchase alcohol when an argument broke out and Sandy threatened to retrieve a gun from his car.
Guardian Media was told by police sources that the teenagers had attended a “Zesser” party at Sea Lots on Sunday night and were believed to be highly intoxicated.
Williams lived at Harp Place in East Port-of-Spain while the other teen lived at Bath Street in the same area. Williams was the son of a woman police officer.
An initial police report stated that at about 8.20 am the teenagers entered the store and said it was a hold-up. One of them was armed with a gun.
However, they were shot by a businessman who became fearful and moved to save his life and defend the lives of his workers and customers in the store at the time.
Williams, who was dressed in camouflage pants, collapsed and died in the store with an undisclosed amount of cash in his hand.
Police said the cash was part of the day’s sales that was demanded from the businessman moments before the shooting.
The other teen, who also attempted to run away, collapsed on the pavement just outside the establishment. An ambulance took him to the hospital where he remained in a critical condition up to press time.
But in an unusual spin to the investigations, police officers got another version of the story. Officers are hoping that the wounded teenager can give them information on the circumstances which led to the shooting.
Police sources said that one of the teens was detained for questioning last year in connection with the murder of Uber driver Christopher Mohammed who was killed for his silver Toyota Corolla PDT 3352 on May 17, 2018.
Mohammed’s body was found in bushes near Ethel Street, Mucurapo Road, St James, at around 11 pm that night.
Guardian Media was told by residents in the area that Williams grew up at the nearby Quamina Street and added that they were shocked over the reports of an attempted robbery.
Guardian Media was also told that a female relative was pointing blame at a male relative for the “lifestyle and path” that Williams was involved in.
Approached while clean-up operations were taking place, a worker said no one was in the state of mind to comment on the incident.
“Right now we are cleaning up the blood inside and outside, on the pavement here and trying to come to terms of what happened. We are shocked and very much shaken up,” the worker said.
During the cleanup, a uniformed police officer stood guard outside the business place.