Murder spree continues as 4 gunned down

The bloodletting continues as four men have been gunned down in shootings in Maraval, Laventille and La Horquetta. Police link the killings to a surge in gang-related violence.

Two men were murdered in Maraval on Friday night in what police believe was retaliation for an attempted murder in Belmont, last month.

According to police, around 10 pm, Ian Sharpe, 32, of Faustin Trace and Keron Timothy, 24, of Nicholas Street, areas in Maraval, were liming with friends near a vegetable mart along Morne Coco Road when they were killed.

Two men in a dark coloured car stopped near where the group stood, opened fire at Sharpe and Timothy and sped off.  Police said the dead men were members of a gang that shot at a vehicle, in which children were passengers, in Belmont on June 12.

In that incident, James Gordon, 38, was driving a white Toyota Hilux west along Belmont Circular Road with an 18-year-old woman and three children ages 15, 12 and six. While in traffic near Providence Girls' Catholic School, a white SUV heading in the opposite direction pulled alongside Gordon's vehicle and opened fire. Gordon fled the vehicle, leaving the woman and children who sustained minor injuries. He was pursued by a gunman but managed to escape. Several vehicles parked on the street were riddled with bullets and children making their way home after school had to run for safety.

And also on Friday, a PH driver was shot dead in Laventille.

Ancil "Anto" Dickson, 37, a father of one, was killed while plying his car for hire along St Barbs Road, Laventille. Police said around 4.30 pm, residents heard gunshots and later found Dickson dead in the driver's seat. He lived at Upper St Barbs Road and was killed not too far from where he lived.

He was the third man to be killed in shootings in the St Barbs area over the past three days.

On Wednesday, around 8.30 pm, Dexter "Pull Skin" Joseph, 31, of Upper St Barbs, and Joel Moore, 34, of Red Hill, Morvant were ambushed and killed in a drive-by. A third man, identified only as "Thinners" was also shot but survived. Police said the men were at Blundell Alley when a car drove slowly past them. A passenger pointed a gun at the group and opened fired before the driver sped off.

Further east, Michael Creese, 20, was murdered on Friday night simply for being in an area where a gang is "at war" with another gang in La Horquetta, police report.

Creese, of La Horquetta Boulevard, was with friends outside a house at Firecracker Lane, when around 8.05 pm, two masked men got out of a car and shot at them. The gunmen chased the scampering men, including two teenagers, into the house and continued shooting, killing Creese.

Wounded were Kadeem Thomas, 19, who was shot in his right hip, leg and mouth; Justin Williams, 19, who was shot in his left foot and Jamal Francis, 21, who was shot in the abdomen. The shootings took place at Francis' house on Firecracker Lane.

Police said none of the victims were known to them to be involved in criminal activity or associated with gangs. However, investigators believe the men were targeted because they were in an area where a gang is in a rivalry with another gang in a different area in the residential community.

Based on a Newsday count, 16 people have been killed in the past week, and the murder toll is now 296, just short of 302 recorded for the same period last year.