Senior Reporter
shane.superville@guardian.co.tt
The families of the men murdered in Gonzales on Sunday are hoping that troubled youths who may be vulnerable to gangs can receive additional priority as part of renewed efforts to fight crime.
The men—off-duty policeman Davy Le Maitre, 32, Michael Ross, 24, and Josiah Maloney, 23, were on the corner of Lange and Jubilee streets, Gonzales, on Sunday afternoon when a black Nissan Almera drove near them.
Gunmen got out of the car and shot the trio, killing them as they tried to run away. Other bystanders ran to safety to avoid the attackers. A small child had been at the scene with adults just minutes before the shooting occurred.
Residents took Le Maitre to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was declared dead, while officers of the Port-of-Spain Task Force who responded to the shooting took Ross and Maloney to the hospital where they were also declared dead shortly after.
Speaking with Guardian Media at the family’s Gonzales home yesterday, Le Maitre’s mother, Natasha Pierre, said she did not have the words to describe the loss of her son, under such violent and unpredictable circumstances.
She said Le Maitre had been a policeman for the past 11 years and was assigned to Riverside Plaza. Pierre said her son was returning from a nearby mini-mart and inadvertently walked directly into the shooting.
Pierre accepted that while being a policeman was a dangerous job, she was deeply saddened that her son was not safe even while he was off-duty and away from the risks of law enforcement work.
She said her son was liming a few houses away from the family home when the attack began, recalling the sound of gunfire.
“It was a lot of gunshots. Once I know he’s not home and I know he gone to lime, he is the first person I call when I hear gunshots and I tried calling him yesterday, but the phone just kept ringing. There was no answer. Police does sometimes be in the wrong place at the wrong time too. Once he go out there to work, everyday I used to pray for my child.”
Asked if she could speak directly to Government and the police on what could be done to better secure communities, Pierre said while traditional policing was appreciated, more should be done to prevent wayward young men from falling into criminality.
“Put things in place for the youths who now finish school, who have nothing to do and who don’t want to go out there and look for a job. Put centres and make them learn a trade instead of just liming around and sitting around doing nothing so that this could be prevented,” she appealed.
Guardian Media also spoke to Elizabeth Ross, the aunt of Michael Ross, who was also killed in the attack.
The elder Ross said that while she was deeply saddened by her nephew’s murder, she and other family members had repeatedly tried to steer him away from the criminal elements he associated with.
“He grew up in the church and in a religious family but he just started to lime with one or two fellas around the area who he grew up with. We always talked to him and reminded him that friends carry them and don’t bring you back, sometimes he used to take it seriously but other times he would just say, ‘Yea, yea, yea.’”
She also urged young men to avoid bad company and do their best to resist pressure to get involved in criminal activity.
“I feel some youths just need to be steered correctly and get the right sense of direction, they need that purpose, to them I can also say life is worth living, regardless of what the situation is, everything is for a season. Sometimes we have a nice, successful season and we reach a low point, but it doesn’t give you the right to go out there and mix and mingle with the wrong people.”
Ross said she also heard the sound of the gunshots from her home and held onto her children while staying low to the floor of the house.
One Gonzales resident, who asked not to be named, told Guardian Media that she knew Le Maitre, Ross and Maloney since they were boys and was saddened that their lives ended so violently.
“These were little fellas who I accustomed seeing up and down the road and now they gone just like that. This is not the Gonzales I was accustomed to. You can’t even call this gang related because this was just some wanna-be’s who have guns and want to start trouble in the neighbourhood.”
During his appearance on CNC3’s Morning Brew programme yesterday, Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro said that there were renewed operations in Belmont and Gonzales under the supervision of head of the Port-of-Spain Division Snr Supt Raymond Thom.
“He would have placed additional manpower, boots on the ground, increased the police presence so we have active ... both overt and covert operations in train as we speak to treat with the situation.”
While in the neighbourhood yesterday, several police patrols were seen circling the areas from Lange Street, onto Vincent Brown Street and across Sogren Trace, as residents remained inside their homes.
