[UPDATED] Murders on the job, 2 men gunned down in Blanchisseuse

TWO FAMILIES are in mourning after their relatives were gunned down at a construction site near the beach in Blanchisseuse on Friday morning.

Residents said Nigel Dedier, 51, and Michael Evangelist, 31, aka "Frisk," were at a job site where they worked near the Blanchisseuse Recreational Grounds, North Coast Road, just before 10 am, when they were shot at by gunmen.

Both Dedier and Evangelist died at the scene.

Newsday visited the area on Friday afternoon as police and crime scene investigators continued their work.

Speaking with Newsday, Evangelist's grandmother Lynette Evangelist said she heard about the murder from her grandson's girlfriend, who called to ask if she had heard gunfire from her home.

"When she called and told me that, I sent some of Michael's cousins to look for him. They came back and said they didn't see him and then I told them to go back.

"Next thing you know is I got a call from someone saying he was dead," Evangelist said.

Another relative claimed Evangelist's murder might be linked to a recent dispute. They believe his killers may be from the same community.

"He didn't interfere with nobody. He didn't lime, he didn't smoke. They just killed him," said the relative who asked not to be identified.

Evangelist said her grandson was a construction worker at the job site where he was killed.

She said Evangelist's older brother, lifeguard Sherwin Maharaj, was also murdered, in 2021, on O'Connor Street, Blanchisseuse.

Newsday also spoke to one of Dedier's relatives at the scene.

She said Dedier, a father of three, worked for the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation and also as a watchman on the construction site where he was killed.

The relative said while she did not think Dedier was the intended target of the gunmen, she felt he may have known the killers, but did not suspect anything was wrong until it was too late.

"Nigel felt he was shielded. He always used to say he didn't have any war with anyone and that dem ting was young boy thing. He always used to say he was too old to be in those things.

"I used to tell him be careful when you go out there as a watchman, because he used to be in a booth with no walls or anything."

The relative described Dedier as an honest, hard-working man who always kept  active in different ways.

"I find this thing (murders) is overbearing. Everybody would claim their loved one was good or innocent but ask anyone, all Nigel did was work. If he's not fishing, he would go in the bush and plant. All Nigel was interested in was his hustle.

"He never robbed anyone, he never distressed anyone or anything like this."

Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region II visited the scene.

When funeral home workers loaded the bodies of both men into their van, Evangelist's grandmother began sobbing and begged to see her grandson one last time.

She was not allowed to see his body as identification ofboth men will be done at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Monday.

This is the second double murder committed this week.

On Tuesday, schoolboy Darshan Ramnauth and Gino Shah were gunned down near Ramnauth's Freeman Street, St Augustine home. The schoolboy was shot after he heard gunfire as Shah was being shot, ran out of his house to check on his grandmother who lives nearby, and was attacked by the gunmen.

Both victims were killed at the scene.

Police arrested three suspects in Five Rivers, Arouca shortly after Shah and Ramnauth were killed. Officers seized three pistols and an AK-47 assault rifle.

Up to press time, the murder toll for this year – including the killings of Dedier and Evangelist – was 48.

Editor's Note: This story is an update to the original story, which can be read below:

TWO men were gunned down at a construction site where they worked, near the beach in Blanchisseuse on Friday morning.

Nigel Dedier, 51, and Michael Evangelist, 31, aka "Frisk" were at the job site where they worked near the Blanchisseuse Recreational Grounds, North Coast Road, just before 10 am when they were shot by gunmen.

Both Dedier and Evangelist died at the scene.

Newsday visited the area on Friday afternoon as police and crime scene investigators continued their investigations. Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region II visited the scene.

Several residents on seeing the heavy police presence around the scene came out to see for themselves while offering condolences to relatives of both men.

This is the second double murder to be committed this week.

On Tuesday, schoolboy Darshan Ramnauth and Gino Shah were gunned down near Ramnauth's Freeman Street, St Augustine home. The schoolboy was gunned down after he heard gunshots as Shah was being shot, ran out of his house to check on his grandmother who lives nearby, and was attacked by the gunmen.

Both victims were killed at the scene.