EASTER GUN DAY – 1 killed, 5 wounded in violent 24 hours

TOBAGO’s second murder was one of four killings that took place between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, taking the murder toll for the year to 156.

The shooting deaths was just a fraction of criminal violence that took place, not just during the pinnacle of the Christian calendar, but also during the holiest period for Muslims, Easter and the month of Ramadan respectively – the two of the holiest periods for both religions.

On Sunday, a Moruga man who moved to Tobago was found murdered in a drain. Police said Alex “Papa” Cooper, 22 became Tobago’s second murder victim for the year after residents of Logwood Park, Scarborough, reported hearing gun shots around 6.20 am and later discovered Cooper’s body slumped and lifeless over the side of the drain.

Police said Cooper moved to Tobago some time ago, settled in Bagatelle and recently moved to another district. No motive was given for his killing.

The first Tobago murder was recorded on February 9 when Plymouth resident Nigel Sandy was shot near his home and subsequently died at the Scarborough General Hospital.

The other blood-letting for the holy weekend began with the murder of Chinese businessman Nicholas Zhu during a robbery at his San Juan grocery on Good Friday.

Police responding and killed one of the three men responsible for Zhu’s death. Up to Sunday night, he remained unidentified.

Police said Zhu, the owner of Golden City Supermarket, was attacked just after closing hours. A one-minute CCTV video, which was shared on social media Saturday, showed Zhu walking from his van after retrieving an envelope.

A short while after exiting the frame, three masked men were seen fleeing after the sound of multiple gunshots. Zhu was taken to the Mt Hope Hospital where he died.

On Gloria Saturday, Shamar “Shami” James was shot on the roadway at Unity Lane, Carapo, Arima, around 6.45 am. Police reported that the 32-year-old had been called out of his home and shot dead.

That day, police also reported the shooting death of Khanta Ramdass, 43, who was found murdered at Mud Plant Road, off Wilson Road, Barrackpore. He lived at No 10 Digity Branch Trace, Penal.

Police report that around 5.15 am on Saturday, an estate constable, employed with Heritage Security Ltd, contacted both the Barrackpore and Penal police stations to report the body of a man found at the side of Mud Plant Road.

In stark contrast, in her first Easter message since being sworn in as President, Christine Kangaloo called on the population to search for joy in the darkest of hours as that is the true meaning of Easter. On Good Friday she said the hope of Easter was not the misty belief that “all will be well in the end. Rather, if we each, in our own way, continue to do what is right, one decision at a time, we will be born into new life individually and as a nation.

“Easter, with its enlivening cry, ‘He is not here, He is risen,’ reminds us to search for joy even in the darkest of circumstances. Much like the women looking for Jesus’ body in the tomb on that first Easter morning, only to be told by the angels there, the glorious news of his resurrection. Easter reminds us to never give up searching for joy, even when all seems lost.”

Also on Good Friday, Imam Kameel Ali, head of the Tobago Muslim Organisation in Lowlands, called on the country to do as much good as possible, not just during the holy month of Ramadan, but throughout the year. He called on Muslims not just to fast but to be charitable during this period.

“Let us do as much good as we could do, help each other. It is a month to train you physically, spiritually, morally and intellectually so that you can be in this position for the balance of the year.”

The messages seemed not to be heard by some as, apart from the murders, five men were shot, including a man flying a kite, in two separate shootings as gunmen continued their onslaught Gloria Saturday.

In Maloney, four men were shot when a gunman ran out of a car and shot at a teenager. According to police at about 4 pm on Saturday the 19-year-old victim was standing at the north-east entrance of Building 17 when he saw a man in a grey hoodie come out of a Nissan Tiida running towards him shooting. The victim ran and collapsed after being shot three times in the back and once in the right leg.

A 35-year-old man of Spoonbill Terrace Maloney who was sitting in front of Apartment 1-1 east at Building 17 was shot in the abdomen. A 37-year-old from Building 17 was also shot in the abdomen. He, police said, was walking towards the building when he was shot.

The fourth victim, a 22-year-old also from Building 17 who was flying a kite nearby, was shot seven times, police said – four times in the legs and three times in the groin.

All four men were taken to the Arima Health Facility where they were treated and transported to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

All are listed in a stable condition.

Hours later, the fifth man was shot in Wallerfied. Police said the victim, a 39-year-old man from Silica Sands Extension, Wallerfield, Arima, had just returned home when two men ambushed him, shot him and ran off.

Police said, at about 8.20 pm, the victim was offloading his car when two men of African descent, both wearing jerseys wrapped around their heads, ran out of the bushes from across the road. One of the men shot the victim twice before he started crawling to his house. While he was doing that, the gunman shot him two more times. He was shot twice in the chest, once in the abdomen and once in the back.

He was taken to the Arima Health Facility where he was stabilised and transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex where he remains warded in a serious condition.

On Good Friday, Kangaloo concluded her message with a call for citizens to see Easter messages as individual invitations to renew minds and transform lives.

“Let us commit to being a more joyful and a more hopeful people – to becoming people who sacrifice more readily, forgive more easily and work in greater universal harmony to achieve our goals.”
(With reporting by Corey Connelly)