One day after woman, daughter gunned down – DAD, SON SHOT DEAD

A DAY after a mother and baby daughter were gunned down in Moruga, the ongoing crime wave has wreaked pain and trauma on another family when a father and son were gunned down near their Piarco home on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said businessman Nigel Mootoo, 49, and his son Nerkyle D'Angelo Mootoo, 19, were driving home in separate cars on Three B's Drive, Piarco, at around 5 pm, when a silver Nissan Tiida began following both cars.

The Tiida first drove near the younger Mootoo's car as gunmen shot him, causing the car to crash into a fence.

The elder Mootoo who saw the shooting, got out of his car and tried running away but was chased by the gunmen who shot him several times in the front yard of his home.

The gunmen got back into their car and drove off.

Police from the Special Evidence Recovery Unit (SERU) visited the scene and found 36 spent shells – 11 of which had TT Regiment markings.

A day before, on Monday, Sachel Elliot and her 18-month-old baby daughter Nova Brereton were gunned down inside a Moruga mini mart by a gunman who also shot the baby's father Akiel Brereton. The man survived and remains warded.

Margaret Mootoo had to be consoled and physically supported by relatives after she identified the bodies of her son Nerkyle and husband Nigel at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Wednesday afternoon.

Mootoo could be heard sobbing loudly and calling for justice as she was led to a waiting car.

Speaking with Newsday, Mootoo, who had to pause several times to compose herself, said she and her husband own a restaurant in St Augustine and had made several reports to the Piarco police station about cars with strange men following them to their home.

She lamented that despite these reports, nothing was done to better secure the community where she lives as she referred to the murder of hardware store owner Chandan Ramjit, 51, was also gunned down on Three Bs Drive, Piarco last week Monday.

Mootoo said she was not confident the police are taking the threat posed by criminals in the area seriously and felt their response time to the murders was poor.

"My husband was on the ground and nobody ain't come.

"I had to take my son and lift him and put him in the car and drive to Mt Hope.

"We carried him in living but they bring him out dead, my son was still alive when we carried him.

"I have reports in the station of how much times strange people coming around us.

"They need to hold the criminals, they are getting information and I don't know why the police can't do anything...it's like they fraid the criminals," Mootoo said.

Mootoo was a passenger in her husband's car at the time of the shootings.

Mootoo said her son recently bought the Nissan Y11 car which he was driving, in time for Christmas and she did not know if the gunmen intended to rob him of the vehicle.

She also complained that residents have pleaded with the authorities to assign a temporary police post in Three Bs Drive, but without success.

"When we go to the police station, they tell us to move out if we so afraid. But where will we go? We have our life savings there, we are trying to make an honest dollar.

"Police wait for something like this to happen and then you will see them. Nah, we don't have confidence in them."

Mootoo said her son was studying air conditioning and refrigeration technology at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). Police sources said they had no motive for this double murder and detectives from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region II) are continuing enquiries.

Contacted for comment, senior police in the North Central Division denied claims that reports were made to Piarco police and called on residents to partner with the police in finding those responsible for the murders.

"I would have communicated with the Piarco police yesterday (Tuesday) and I was confidently informed that no reports were made to them.

"I don't know if they (the relatives) would have received official receipts after making reports but if that is the case they can contact the police and let them know," a senior police source said.

The officer said the police were aware that Three B's Drive was becoming an area of concern and intend to pay more attention to that area.

"The area is a squatting area and it's attracting a certain type of individuals who go there and settle.

"They're coming to settle in that area and they're bringing their histories with them which would cause problems, so we are paying attention to what's going on.

"We are on the ground and we are calling on the public to utilise the hotlines of 800-8477(TIPS) and if they believe the district police is not adequately serving their needs there are other avenues they can follow to ensure they receive proper redress." Up to press time, no arrests were made.