[UPDATED] ‘Village baby’ gunned down in Penal

Reno Ramsubhag, the man shot dead near his home on Thursday in Penal, would have turned 20 in ten days.

Although he had no birthday plans, his father was already preparing to cook a meal of curried duck as requested.

"I told him not to make any birthday plans, because plans usually do not work out. But he asked that I cook the duck for him on that day (May 29).

"He was my only child. Reno was the village baby; everyone loved him," Reno’s father, Rajin Ramsubhag, told Newsday.

On the brink of tears, the grieving father said he considered Reno his life.

The killers, he said, "took my life from me. They took the little piece of heart I have. I do not know how people could do something like that. I do know what I would do now without him."

The father and son lived at Jhulai Trace, off Penal Rock Road in Penal. Reno’s mother, Janice, lives elsewhere.

Reno worked in a sawmill in Siparia and had just left the house to go to work. He was in the driver’s seat of the company's Nissan Frontier van at around 6 am when a gunman started shooting at close range. Reno died on the spot.

Reno often picked up workers and dropped them to and from work, his father said.

Ramsubhag said his son was a pleasant person, and he could not think of a reason why someone took his life.

Investigators do not have a motive for the killing, saying Reno had no run-ins with the law. South Western Division and Homicide Bureau Region III police are investigating.

This story was originally published with the title "Man, 19, shot dead near home in Penal" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A 19-year-old man from Penal was shot dead in a van near his home early on Thursday.

Police said Reno Ramsubhag died on the spot at around 6 am when a gunman walked up to the van and opened fire.

The killing happened at Jhulai Trace. Residents heard gunshots and called police.

The police said someone else owned the van, but Ramsubhag often drove it.

Investigators do not have a motive for the killing, saying Ramsubhag had no run-ins with the law. South Western Division and Homicide Bureau Region III police are investigating.