‘Snake’ killed by police at Beetham Gardens

The Beetham Gardens man who was fined $400 after pleading guilty to kicking water on then acting attorney general Fitzgerald Hinds was killed by police on Tuesday night.

Police said sometime after 10 pm members of the Port of Spain Task Force were on patrol in Beetham Gardens in an unmarked police car. They said they were shot at and returned fire, fatally wounding Richard "Snake" Marcelle.

Marcelle, 35, of 17th Street, was charged with assault by beating and use of obscene language for the 2018 attack on Hinds and councillor Akil Audain. Only Hinds filed a police complaint. The two men had visited the area after days of flooding and were chased by residents who kicked and threw floodwater on them.

Police said they founda rifle after the shooting, which happened near the Police Social and Welfare Association gas station.

Marcelle is the second man in two weeks killed by officers of the Port of Spain Task Force.

Last Thursday, Celestine Richards was shot after he allegedly pointed a gun at officers when they went to his Walcott Trace, Gonzales home. He was wanted in connection with several shootings in the area, police said. He died at the Port of Spain General Hospital.