Coconut vendor shot dead

UPDATE:

Coconut vendor Marcus Samuel was shot dead while watching Peppa Pig with his four-year-old nephew at his home in Valencia on Friday night.

According to relatives, Samuel, 25, was watching the cartoon with the boy in the verandah of the house at Carib Circular, La Platta, at about 9 pm. Gunmen moved the boy who was sitting on Samuel’s lap, as they were sharing headphones to watch the cartoon, then shot Samuel. The gunmen placed the boy back on the Samuel and then fled.

Relatives said Samuel, the father of twins–a boy and girl–was beaten with a cutlass earlier in the day after he told a man not to enter his yard. They said a group of men threatened Samuel and vowed to return and kill him.

However, police report it was Samuel, who has marijuana charges, who attacked a man with a cutlass and took $300 from him. Police said the man did threaten to kill Samuel. They said the incident stemmed from a dispute between residents of two streets.

Relatives described Samuel, the second of three boys, as a respectful man who was the “eyeball” of his mother.
They said after the earlier incident, Samuel’s friends had asked him to go out with them to drink but he refused.

Moments before he was killed, Samuel went to retrieve a pair of slippers placed upside down in the road outside his home. He thought it was a bad omen and had shouted that whoever was trying to use necromancy would not be successful as his mother was a praying woman. Samuel then went and sat with his nephew in the verandah where he was shot. He died on the chair.
Homicide Bureau Region II investigators, including inspectors Lawrence and Maraj along with constables James and Lopez, visited the scene. James is continuing investigations.

ORIGINAL STORY:

HOURS after he was beaten and threatened, three men entered the home of Valencia coconut vendor and murdered him as he sat in his verandah.

Marcus Samuel, 25, of Carib Circular, La Platta, Valencia was at home, at about 9 pm on Friday, when his attackers walked in and killed him. Police said that earlier in the day, Samuel was beaten with a cutlass by a group of men after he asked one of them not to enter his yard. After the assault, one of the men told Samuel he was going to kill him.

Before he was killed hours later, Samuel went to retrieve a pair of slippers placed upside down in the road outside his home. Police said relatives told them Samuel thought it was a bad omen and had shouted that whoever was trying to use necromancy would not be successful as his mother was a praying woman. Samuel, a father of two, then went and sat in his verandah but moments later he was shot multiple times. He died on the chair.

Homicide Bureau Region II investigators, including inspectors Lawrence and Maraj along with constables James and Lopez, visited the scene. James is continuing investigations.