Police search for man in airman's death

POLICE are looking for a man who they believe could assist them with their investigation into the murder of 33-year-old air guard corporal Sowande Osei Morean on Friday.

Reports are that at about 12.10 am, police responded to a report of a shooting at Escallier Terrace, off Pitman Lane, Gonzales.

When they got there they found Morean with gunshot wounds in the front porch of the house. He had been shot in the face and chest.

Police took him to the Port of Spain General Hospital, where he died while undergoing emergency surgery.

Relatives at the Forensic Science Centre (FSC) in St James declined comment on Morean's death, but the mother of a woman who he was with on the night of his murder, described him as a "nice guy."

Newsday spoke to the mother over the phone after visiting her Pitman Lane, Gonzales, home. When Newsday got there, police were interviewing relatives.

In the phone conversation, Newsday was told the mother, her daughter and Morean were in the front porch speaking moments before he was shot dead.

“He (Morean) was a very easy going person who minded his own business. I don’t think he had any enemies,” the mother said. "It is affecting me to see that someone got killed for no sensible reason."

The mother said Morean and the woman began their relationship six years ago. She told Newsday her daughter had gotten out of an on-again, off-again relationship with another man after it became abusive.

Relative of the deceased, and deputy mayor of Port of Spain, Hillan Morean told Newsday that the entire family was shocked over Morean’s killing, and described him as a childhood friend and a good person.

“He grew up a stone’s throw away from my home in Gonzales,” the deputy mayor said.

Chief of Defence Staff Darryl Daniel expressed condolences to Morean’s family in a release sent to the media from the Air Guard’s communications office.

The release confirmed that Morean was posted at the Operations Command Centre at the TT Defence Force Headquarters, in Chaguaramas.

He enlisted in the Air Guard in April 5 2008 and served for 12 years.

Morean was a father of three.

Police sources say the murder toll for the year to date is now 300.