[UPDATED] Mechanic murdered while liming in wrong part of Cocorite

MECHANIC Brendon Barbaste, 51, believed his age had indemnified him against the ongoing war between the Waterhole and Powder Magazine gangs in Cocorite.

Ignoring pleas and warnings from relatives including his own daughter, Barbaste who lived in Powder Magazine went to visit and lime with friends in Watehole on Tuesday afternoon.

While Barbaste was sitting on a chair and relaxing at around 5.15 pm, two men walked up to him, pointed guns and fired bullets into his chest and head before walking off. He died on the spot.

Residents alerted police and officers from Western Division Task Force visited. A district medical officer ordered Barbaste's body removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsy.

Several spent shells were found at the murder scene.

At the centre, speaking with Newsday on Wednesday morning, a relative who asked not to be identified said Barbaste worked as a mechanic for several years and would often take jobs in different neighbourhoods.

She said relatives warned Barbaste about taking mechanic jobs outside of Powder Magazine as certain neighbourhoods were off-limits due to the ongoing gang war.

Relatives said people from Powder Magazine were restricted from entering parts of Waterhole and Harding Place, and vice versa.

The relative said Barbaste did not think much of the danger of entering these neighbourhoods and told loved ones he felt he would not be targeted since he was not involved in any gangs and at 51, he was too old to be perceived as a threat to gang members.

"My husband said he was going to pick up his granddaughter and asked Brendon if he wanted to go home one time, but Brendon said he was going to make a small lime by friends first.

"My husband warned him not to go up in the back (of the neighbourhood) but he did go and was sitting and liming when dem fellas came for him. He was a mechanic so he fixed anybody's car.

"The guys from the other side (Waterhole) can't go to his neighbourhood so they warned him not to come back to Waterhole because he was with the enemies. They told him he was fixing their enemies' cars," the relative said.

Barbaste's daughter Asha told Newsday she too had repeatedly warned him of the dangers of venturing into different neighbourhoods outside of Powder Magazine, but he did not listen.

"I warned him and I told him to stay away, but he always used to say he was old and wasn't involved in any war.

"I told him even though you're not on them, they are on you and they want to get you killed. He wasn't listening, he wasn't taking me on," she said.

Barbaste said she was at home when she got a call about her father's murder. At first she did not believe he had been killed.

She said her father was born and raised in Cocorite and was unhappy with the conflict that divided his community.

"My father was interested in getting the war resolved because he didn't like the fact that this was what his neighbourhood had become.

"I told him he wasn't capable of stopping it, but he felt he was invincible and thought he could have brought back the peace."

Another relative said she is also frustrated over the division in their community and hopes the "war" can end.

"It's really unfair for people who grew up together and whose mothers were friends but their sons are warring. Cocorite is a small place, one way to go in one, way to come out.

"Everybody in Cocorite is family in some way because somebody's brother has children with somebody's cousin. It's a family village and I think this needs to stop in the village now." Up to press time, police said they had no motive for Barbaste's murder and no arrest has been made.

Editor's Note: This is an update to an earlier story placed on our online platforms and which can be read below:

A 52-year-old Cocorite man did not have the chance to escape his attackers when he was gunned down while sitting outside his house on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said Brendon Babaste was sitting on a plastic chair, near the front of a house at Waterhole, Cocorite, at around 5.15 pm, when he was shot several times in his head and chest.

Residents called the police and Western Division Task Force officers went to the scene.

St James police were called in with a district medical officer who declared Babaste dead.

Crime scene investigators also found several spent shells.

No motive has been established for Babaste's murder.

Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region I are continuing enquiries.

This story was originally published with the title "Cocorite man killed while sitting in chair" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A 52-year-old Cocorite man did not have the chance to escape his attackers when he was gunned down while sitting outside his house on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said Brendon Babaste was sitting on a plastic chair, near the front of a house at Waterhole, Cocorite, at around 5.15 pm, when he was shot several times in his head and chest.

Residents called the police and Western Division Task Force officers went to the scene.

St James police were called in with a district medical officer who declared Babaste dead.

Crime scene investigators also found several spent shells.

No motive has been established for Babaste's murder.

Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region I are continuing enquiries.