Bloodshed in Bon Air

POLICE are trying to establish a link between the murders of Dwight Richardson, Salim Dominique and Kadeem Williams, who were all killed on Nightingale Drive, Bon Air, Arouca, and three murders on Kiskadee Crescent, a few blocks away.

The six murders, which took place within the space of a week, have led police to beef up security and increase patrols in the area, but that has not prevented law-abiding villagers from fearing for their lives.

Residents told Newsday they were inside their homes on Monday night, when, at about 9 pm they heard loud rapid-fire gunshots.

“It was going rat-at-at-at-at! Not pow, pow, pow,” exclaimed one Bon Air resident. “After that, all I was smelling was smoke.”

“This is the first time I have experienced anything like this since I started living here,” said another.

When police arrived, they found two men lying in the road. One was dead and the other barely clinging to life, but died at hospital. A third man was found dead in a nearby track, and a fourth, identified as Nigel Scott of Gankanski Avenue, Cocorite Road, Arima, was admitted to hospital. He said he had been shot in the same incident.

Residents of the relatively quiet neighbourhood stayed inside after the shooting until police came and cordoned off and processed the scene.

When they came out they could only see police doing investigations.

Newsday was told the police stayed there until about 6 am.

A week ago Ronald “Tek” McKie was shot dead a stone’s throw away from his Kiskadee Crescent home.

A day later, at McKie’s wake, 27-year-old Anderson Forbes, and 32-year-old Anderson James, both of Kiskadee Crescent, Arouca, were shot dead.

Councillor Paul Leacock expressed concern over the murders, adding that the recent criminal activity has affected the timeline for the building of a million-dollar community centre, which has been in the works for almost a decade.

“There has been a sudden upsurge in murders and that has the whole community worried.”

Leacock said although the sod was turned on the community centre site last year, the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation has been having trouble securing a contractor to complete the project.

At the Forensic Science Centre in St James, relatives of the slain men were in too emotional a state to speak to the media.