Man shot dead in car

Amidst hectic shopping with families capitalising on last-minute buys for Christmas, murder was the last thing anyone expected.

Henry Prince, of Fort George, Moruga, was shot dead as he was reversing his car from a car park on Johnstone Street, off Mucurapo Street, in what police said was a “hit”. Prince was shot once to the head.

Police said the murder occurred at about 4 pm when a man walked up to the car and fired a shot at almost point blank range. Prince had parked his green Mitsubishi Lancer car and went to a barber shop nearby. From the barber, he went to a nearby casino where he was seen gambling. Eyewitnesses at the scene of the murder told police Prince won some money.

Many people, several of them holding shopping bags, spoke of hearing an explosion but paid little heed to it. One shopper said that he thought it was a scratch bomb that was triggered off. “I could not believe that in the heart of San Fernando somebody was killed just like that while people shopping.”

“I don’t know what this place is coming to,” another shopper - a mother of two, said.

But the commotion escalated when the the district medical officer arrived on the scene. The screams of a young woman could be heard as she ran towards the car and shouted, “Daddy ....no they kill my daddy! Oh gosh no!” The woman attempted to remove the police caution tape but was prevented from doing so by police.

Inspectors Don Gajadhar and Steve Persad attempted to comfort the woman, but she continued to scream, “I want to see the body. That is my father lying on the ground there. Let me pass to see the body.”

When told the murdered man in the car was Henry Prince, the woman continued to sob, “I know that is my father there. He has the same kind of car. I was at the bank on High Street, San Fernando when my cousin called me and said that they now kill my father on Johnstone Street. Oh gosh I lost my brother five months ago and now my father!”

When a police officer showed her Prince’s drivers permit, the woman walked away calmly.