BOY SAVED BY KITTEN

THE curiosity of one-year-old Varian Walker, son of one of two men shot dead in Tunapuna last Saturday, is what may have saved his life.

At the Forensic Science Centre (FSC) in St James yesterday relatives of Victor Walker, the toddler’s father, told reporters the boy was at the scene of the shooting where his father and Kishan Carmona were killed, but wandered out of the house when he saw a kitten.

Moments later, gunmen stormed the house on Back Street, murdered Carmona and Walker and wounded another man. Walker’s relatives said after he got off work at the Tunapuna market, he would usually visit the child and the child’s mother, who lived near his Main Road, Tunapuna home, at a house in a nearby track.

Saturday was no different, according to the toddler’s grandmother and Walker’s mother Dianne Roberts. She said he left home to pick up the child and on his way back, stopped for a moment to lime with the other two shooting victims. Roberts said the child had cats at his home, so he was accustomed to playing with them.

“He would normally hug his cat and play with it, so when he saw the cat he must have gotten excited,” Roberts said. “He started fussing with his father and going ‘Ca! Ca!’ and reaching for the cat, so the father let him go and play with it. He followed the cat all the way to another house. If it wasn’t for that cat, he might have died in that shooting too.”

At about 9 pm on Saturday, Carmona, Walker and 34-year-old Damien Phillips were liming when gunmen ambushed and shot them. Carmona and Walker were shot in the chest and stomach and died at the scene. Phillips was hit in both legs and is being treated at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Walker’s relatives described him as a compassionate person, who would stand up to anyone if he saw an injustice taking place. “He was very outspoken. If you were doing something wrong, he would tell you, no matter who you were. If he saw you were suffering, he would try to help you even if he didn’t know you.” Walker’s relatives said.

Carmona’s father told reporters he was at home when the shooting occurred, and when he heard the gunshots, he immediately knew his son was dead.

“I just got a feeling that I could not explain,” said the father, who did not wish to be named. “I was sleeping when I heard the shooting. I jumped out of my sleep. I immediately told his sister, ‘Girl, your brother dead.’ Twenty minutes later his girlfriend called me and gave me the bad news.”

Carmona’s father said his house was two houses away from where the shooting took place. While Homicide detectives are working on the theory that the shooting may have been drug-related, Carmona’s father told Newsday he believed his son was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.