Former footballer Akeem Benjamin among 2 shot dead by police

A FORMER national football player was among two men who were shot dead by police after a shootout at the abandoned Flavorite ice-cream factory off Boundary Road in El Socorro on Wednesday.

The men may have been on the compound to steal scrap iron, police said.

Police reported that at about 12.20 pm, North Eastern Division Task Force officers on patrol, got information that men were seen lurking on the compound of the abandoned factory.

Officers went to the scene and saw a man jumping a fence and running off.

They then saw two men running into a room in the abandoned building. Police said the cornered men fired on the officers who returned gunfire. The wounded men were taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where they were pronounced dead on arrival. A revolver and a pistol were seized from the men.

One of the men was later identified as Akeem “Battery” Benjamin, 32, of Burke Trace, Barataria while the other man remained unidentified up to press time on Wednesday.

Benjamin was said to be a former national footballer who played as a defender and who also played for several pro-league football clubs including San Juan Jabloteh, W. Connection and Central FC.

The other dead man was unidentified up to press time on Wednesday. A third man from John John, Port of Spain was arrested and is being questioned by police.

This is the third man killed by police in the El Socorro area this year.

In February, Denille Robinson died at hospital after he was shot following a robbery spree. Robinson, 24, and a gang of ten robbed Samaroo's, Reliable Appliances, Carpet World and AEC Scaffolding at a warehouse complex off Boundary Road, El Socorro.