Two double, triple murders push toll to 55 in 28 days

SEVEN PEOPLE were shot dead in three separate incidents on Saturday.

There were two double murders in Cunupia and a triple murder in Arima, taking the murder count to 55 in 28 days.

The latest incident took place shortly after 8 pm at Hassarath Road, Cunupia. Three people were shot in a gun attack. Two men were killed and one taken to hospital.

Hours earlier homicide detectives responded to a triple murder at Rose Drive, Carapo on Saturday around 2.50 pm, after the bodies of three people were found in a beige car. The bodies of a woman, in the driver’s seat, and a man in the front passenger seat were slumped against each other. A third victim, a man, was lying across the floor in the back seat.

Residents of the area said they did not know the car nor the victims.

And police reported two men were shot dead and two women injured outside a Cunupia nightclub a stone’s throw from the district’s police station around 1 am on Saturday.

This is the seventh double murder in the month of January.

CCTV footage shared on social media showed a gunman, armed with a pistol, shooting repeatedly at two men who were standing outside Roxbury Bar, Southern Main Road.

There were several people outside the bar who ran for safety.

The gunman, wearing a blue windbreaker, fisherman’s hat and three-quarter trousers, ran towards Chin Chin Road after the shooting.

Officers at the nearby Cunupia Police Station heard the gunshots and responded. The incident took place a mere 150 feet away from the station.

Investigators found Shaquille Ferdinand, 28, an offshore worker, of Kernahan Trace, Dyette Road, Cunupia and Shaeed Jaboolal, 37, of Remy Trace, Longdenville, on the ground. Jaboolal, who was still breathing, was taken the Chaguanas Health Centre, but died of his injuries around 1.20 am.

Of the two women, Shivanna Khan, 40, of Polo Ground, Preysal Village, Couva, was reportedly shot in the right leg, and Rhonda Ropia, 41, of Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas, was reportedly shot in the buttocks. They were taken for treatment.

Crime Scene Unit investigators found 13 spent 9 mm casings at the scene. Homicide Bureau officers are continuing investigations.

When Newsday visited the nightclub on Saturday at around 11 am, many patrons were reluctant to speak, saying they hadn’t seen anything.

At Ferdinand’s home, his aunt, cousin and other relatives were sitting by the neighbourhood shop trying to console each other.

Only Ferdinand’s father, Lydon, identified himself. The rest of his friends and relatives refused to do so.

Ferdinand was his only son.

“I lost a son who was a father and a friend to the whole of TT, not just this community. He was a father of the house when I wasn’t around, a brother and everything.”

Lydon was then embraced by two of the mourners. One held on for longer and couldn’t even stand straight while crying with Lydon.

One of Ferdinand’s cousins tried to lighten the mood, saying, “The only thing he was bad in was ladies.”

They all said he would be working most of the time to provide for his family. Ferdinand will be leaving behind his son and daughter, ages ten and seven respectively, as well as an unborn baby.

One of the men said Ferdinand lost a baby two years ago.

His cousin said, “He was a lover, never a fighter. He would drink, lime, enjoy himself, but he was never in any bacchanal. Never any gangster.
"He was working offshore, so when he got his time off, he would come, lime with us, drink and enjoy himself.”

Men who grew up with Ferdinand at Kernahan Trace all echoed the same sentiments, saying he was “a hard worker and was a father to his children.”

One of the younger men said, “He didn’t even smoke weed, only cigarettes.”

One man, who said he was Ferdinand’s cousin said, “He wasn’t in any gang thing. I want to see that on the news, because it have certain news that does lie, and that fella was an offshore fella.”

He added, “That one there, (the shooting) wasn’t for him. It had to be for someone else.”

He said people on social media can be quick to draw conclusions, and has not looked at his phone since the incident so he would not see anything “outta timing.”

They said if we were to go to any random house along Kernahan Trace, people would say the same thing.
Newsday was told  Ferdinand was supposed to return to work offshore on February 7.
– With reporting by Vishanna Phagoo and Angelo Marcelle

Murder count

• January 1, Collin Ezekiel Dennis, 34, was shot dead with Christopher Williams, 27, at Building Six, Maloney Gardens.

• January 7, Kamali Cayonne, 29 and Anton John, 30, were gunned down while liming at Garcia Circular, Arima.

• January 15, Clive Straker, 55, was sitting outside his businessplace, Teddy’s Mini Mart, on 100 Acres Road, Wallerfield, with his nephew Kelvin Thomas, 35, when they were shot dead by armed robbers.

• January 21, Gino Shah and schoolboy Darshan Ramnauth gunned down at Freeman Road, St Augustine south.

• January 22, police responded to a triple murder after brothers Andre Singh, 16, and Jamal Hackshaw, 19, and their cousin Keron Modoo, 20, were shot dead at their home at Boys Lane, D’Abadie

• January 26, Nigel Dedier, 51 and Michael Evangelist, 31, shot dead at construction site opposite the Blanchisseuse Recreation Grounds.

• January 28, Shaquille Ferdinand, 28, and Shaeed Jaboolal, 37, shot dead outside Roxbury Bar, Southern Main Road, Cunupia.

• January 28, an unidentified woman and two men found shot dead in a car at Rose Drive, Carapo.

• January 28, three people shot at Hassarath Road, Cunupia. Two died instantly.