'Is daddy dead?'

"My daddy got shot, mummy. Is daddy dead?"

Sadly, two-year-old Ronasio Bruzual asked his mother this question as he watched his father, Henson Roni Fortuni Bruzual, 37, bleeding on the ground after a drive-by shooting at the family's clothing store, R&S Fashion, in Couva on Friday evening.

The toddler and his 11-year-old sister, Ornella, were in the store with their mother, Sandy, when gunshots rang out. Ornella hid under a table while her mother crouched to the ground trying to shield her young son under her arms.

When the car sped off, Sandy saw her bleeding husband. He was dead.

A terrified Sandy ran out of the store screaming for help with her children in her arms. Outside, another man, Daniel Bute, 33, was also found bleeding. He too was dead. At the time there were no customers in the store, which shares the compound with a mini-mart, along the Southern Main Road.

According to a police report, the incident occurred at about 6.30 pm at Junon Street, off the Southern Main Road.

Reports said Bute was standing in front of the mini-mart, and at the same time, Bruzual had walked into his store, when a silver Nissan Tiida with four men drove-by and began shooting.

Bruzual and Bute were shot. The gunmen then sped off as the victims fell to the ground. Police said both men were shot to the neck, chest and abdomen.

Holding her son, Sandy, in an interview at her home in California, said when she heard the gunshots she thought a bulb had blown out in the store. “We were talking and then Roni pushed us out of the way. I still did not know someone was shooting until I saw my husband fall on the ground. I held on tightly to my son in my arms. And I could see my daughter hiding under a table,” she cried.

Wiping her tears she said, “He pushed us out of the way before he was shot.”

Bruzal was born in Venezuela but grew up in Trinidad and was a citizen.

Investigators believe the gunmen's target was Bute and Bruzual was an innocent victim.