300 murders

TWO murders which occurred in Mt Hope and the Heights of Aripo have engaged the attention of homicide region two detectives and raised the murder toll to 300 for the year.

At about 6 pm on Sunday, Jaleel Stevenson was shot in Mt Hope while his friend Jelani Husbands was wounded and hospitalised. Then at about 10 pm Martin Sylvester was killed in Aripo.

In the earlier incident Stevenson, 24, and his 21-year-old friend Jelani Husbands, were sitting in a car at a popular car wash on Riverside Avenue, Mt Hope, when masked men approached and opened fire. Both men tried to run off but the gunmen followed.

Stevenson who was already shot six times in his chest and legs was cornered and shot him eight more times according to police. Husbands was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex where he was warded in a serious condition. Husbands was shot twice.

At about 10 pm, Sylvester of Pinto Road, Arima was killed. Police sources told Newsday that Sylvester along with other occupants in a car, were heading in a southerly direction on Aripo Road. While on the road, the occupants of the car stopped him, saying they thought they saw gunmen shooting at another person.

Sylvester waited for the shooting to stop and continued to proceed along the road, but moments after, their vehicle came under fire. The driver tried to reverse the car but it stalled. The occupants ran out of the car for cover from the volley of bullets, but Sylvester was shot in his head and chest.