Man shot dead after attending friend's wake

A 25-year-old Morvant man was shot dead last night after attending a wake for his friend who had been murdered hours earlier in the same area.

Police said Steven Joseph, alias 'Goatman' had attended Kareem Garcia's wake at Laventille Road Extension, Morvant late last night when two men called out to him. He spoke with them for about ten minutes, and as he got up to leave, was shot by the men. Mourners from the wake heard the shots and found Joseph on the ground bleeding from his wounds. The district medical officer declared him dead at the scene.

Police sources at the North Eastern Division told Newsday that there was "good information" suggesting Joseph was killed in retaliation for Garcia's murder.

Joseph's and Garcia's relatives, however, said they could not confirm if that information was true. They wanted answers, they said, as to why anyone would want both men killed.

"He (Joseph) left me while I was cooking. I don't know where he went or why, but just as I was about to change the music I heard the gunshots. Next thing I know he was dead," said one of Garcia's relatives, who declined to be named.

Joseph's mother told Newsday that she would remember her son as a loving, young man who would go out of his way to help others.