Murders 4 and 5 in troubled St Augustine community – MORE TRAIN LINE BLOODSHED

A PREGNANT 16-year-old girl was in critical condition and her boyfriend dead after a shooting incident at their St Augustine home on Wednesday afternoon.

Another man, whom police believe may have been one of the gunmen who shot the couple, was also shot, and killed in the incident which took place a mere walking distance from the troubled Train Line district.

Police said Daniel Riley, 21, and his girlfriend were at their home, which is made of converted shipping containers, off Freeman Road, when at around 1.15 pm a silver-coloured Nissan Tiida pulled up and gunmen got out and opened fire.

Eyewitnesses later told police that as the gunmen fanned out as they shot at the couple, one of them fell after being shot. As the gunman fell, the others got back into the car which drove off. The man, who was unidentified up to press time, was wearing gloves and one of his fingers was severed.

While Riley and the other man died at the scene, his girlfriend who was shot in her stomach, was taken to hospital where she underwent emergency surgery. Police sources said she remained in warded in critical condition up to 7 pm.

When Newsday visited the scene, several of Riley's friends from Train Line were gathered nearby as crime scene investigators continued searching for spent bullet shells on the ground.
Speaking with Newsday, Riley's mother Helen Riley said she was heartbroken over her son's murder and hoped his girlfriend and the unborn baby survives.

Referring to the deaths of 16-year-old Darshan Ramnauth and Geno Shah in January; and Aneesa Ramkissoon in March – all in Train Line – Riley said she is ready to pack up and leave the community as quickly as possible as it is becoming too dangerous.

"Of course, we hope they can make it. That's the only thing we have left from Daniel, his wife and his child.

"We have to move from here. We can't stay here no more. They come to kill everybody, it's only me and my other son who got away," Riley said.

The woman said she lives on the same parcel of land where her son's makeshift home is and heard the gunshots when the attack began. She said she narrowly escaped the gunmen and is shaken by the incident.

"I ran and locked the door of the container fast otherwise we would have been shot too.

"When the gunmen went and shot my son and his wife, I locked the container, and he (the attacker) heard me locking the door and he turned and shot at me.

"We hid under our beds, but because the container is made of iron, we felt the rattling from inside as bullets struck the container."

She said gunmen shot at their homes about a month ago. Riley said her son earned a living by  selling produce at a stall on the side of the road near their homes and was looking forward to being a father for the first time. "He was working really hard to buy up some baby stuff."

The elder Riley continued to sell the produce shortly after crime scene investigators completed their enquiries at the scene.

Riley said she remembered her son as an obedient, hard-working young man and said she felt the violence in Train Line was affecting people living in outlying areas. "This whole thing with Train Line has just gotten out of hand. Innocent people are paying for what other people are doing.

"We are not living on that side, but we are feeling it on this side too, as it is so close. I can't live here anymore because if I stay here, any number could call."

One woman who walked out to the crime scene said she was fearful for her own life given the spate of violence in the community. "He and the girl always used to treat me with respect.

"I want to offer my condolences and support to his mother, but I also don't want to stay out here too long because it just isn't safe," the woman said.

One officer from the Northern Division said the police would continue to focus on the area and vowed to increase their presence to deter crime.

"What we really will do from this weekend is step up our patrols in different communities and that area will be one where we will focus on.

"We also want to introduce some strategies to bring these perpetrators to justice."
Police have not yet officially established a motive for the murder.

Officers from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region II are continuing enquiries.

TERROR IN AND AROUND TRAIN LINE – A chronology

FRESH bloodshed has visited the troubled Train Line, South St Augustine community with the shooting to death of two men and wounding of a woman on Wednesday.

The following is a chronology of the recent murders, violence, and mayhem to hit this area.

January 24
Gunmen shoot and kill schoolboy Darshan Ramnauth, 16, near his home, days shy of his 17th birthday.

Police said Ramnauth ran out of his house and on to the street to check on his grandmother, as gunmen in a grey Toyota Corolla car shot after a group of men.

The teen who was not the intended target, was still gunned down by the men. Ramnauth and Geno Shah were killed in this attack. Two other men were injured.

March 3
Aneesa Ramkissoon was gunned down outside her home in the presence of her relatives including a child.

The 26-year-old woman was at her Train Line Road home when two gunmen barged in and shot her as she knelt. Doctors pronounced her dead-on-arrival at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Her one-month-old son, three-year-old daughter, and six-year-old son were in a bedroom of the house when she was murdered.

Police arrested one suspect in connection with her murder, but hours later, he was released.
Her sister, Seema Ramkissoon, claimed that Aneesa was killed for flatly refusing to pay a “protection tax” to criminals in the area.

March 8
Still mourning the brutal murder of her sister Aneesa, Seema Ramkissoon's house is burnt down. Fortunately, no one was at home during the fire. No arrest has been made.

March 27
Firemen had to again descend on Train Line Road after another house was burnt to the ground. Brothers Kishore and Vijay Mahabir who lived in the house, said they had lost everything in the fire.

The brothers and other residents said they believe this fire was linked to the murders of Ramnauth, Ramkissoon and the arson attack on Ramkissoon's sister's home. Some residents were seen on that day packing up their belonging and moving out saying they had had enough of the crime and violence.

April 5
Daniel Riley, 21, and an unidentified man are shot dead outside Riley's home on Freeman Road which leads into the Train Line community. Riley's pregnant 16-year-old girlfriend was also shot and up to press time, remained warded in critical condition at hospital.

(Additional reporting by ELIZABETH GONZALES)