5 murders in 12 hours take toll to 176 – WOMAN KILLED BY STRAY BULLET

A 35-YEAR-OLD Arima woman was killed on Tuesday night when a stray bullet penetrated her bedroom window, struck her in the neck and exited through her forehead even as she and relatives began to run and take cover as rapid gunfire broke out when a gunman chased down his intended target through a neighbour’s yard.

Kernella Saunders, a secretary with Cipriani Labour College, was one of two women killed when the gunman took aim at a 39-year-old man near Pope Avenue, Daniel Trace, Malabar, at around 8 pm. The intended target managed to escape.

Police said the gunman, dressed in black, walked near the man and a woman identified only as Lashay and opened fire. Lashay, who police said was originally from Fyzabad, was shot in her stomach and died.

While the man was running and dodging the bullets, the gunmen kept on shooting with a bullet, penetrating the window of a nearby house and hitting Saunders.

Other residents, Newsday was told, also ducked for cover as the shooter continued shooting and chasing his quarry – giving up only after he apparently ran out of ammunition.

After the shooting stopped, the would-be target returned and took a badly bleeding Lashay to the Arima Hospital where she was declared dead at around 8.22 pm. Investigators said the man was reluctant to give further information to investigators.

The two women were among five people murdered in the space of 12 hours between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, carrying the murder toll to 176, up to press time. The other three victims included the owner of an Aranguez pharmacy, the owner of a car wash in Claxton Bay and a Couva man.

For this week, three women have been murdered – Candace Griffith who was shot dead in Temple Street, Arima on Monday night and then Saunders and Lashay on Tuesday night.

A HARROWING ACCOUNT

At Saunders' home on Wednesday, her eldest sister Michelle Saunders-Callender gave a harrowing account of the events leading up to her sibling's demise. She recalled seeing her sister lying on the floor in their home and thinking she was there waiting for the gunshots to cease.

Instead, she later realised her sister was dead when she saw blood pooling around her body.

Saunders-Callender said when the shooting started, everyone in the house ducked for cover, something they were accustomed to since this was not the first time shots had rang out in that community.

“My sister just came from Larry Gomes stadium and she was just coming out of her bedroom. She was going to the kitchen to get a special meal she had prepared for herself and that's when she get hit by the bullet in her neck.

"I found her. I was outside washing when the shooting happened. The man just spray up bullets all over the place and I came in and met my sister on the ground,” Saunders-Callender cried.

Asked what she wanted to tell Caricom leaders after the two-day crime talks, Saunders-Callender said: "It is all just so unfair. I think they know exactly what is going on and what they need to do. They need to step up because it is the public who is suffering. It is too much...I don't know what else to tell them.”

As she gave the media a tour of her sister’s bedroom, there clear signs of the deadly violence. The bullet not only left a hole and cracks in the window, but also tore through a curtain, went through a grey towel hanging on a door, pierced through that door and then struck Saunders.

Saunders-Callender lamented that her sister was a very private person and that so many people in her bedroom would not have been tolerated by her, were she still alive.

"I CAN FORGIVE, BUT..."

Her daughter, Renee Callender quipped that her aunt was probably cursing from the great beyond on seeing so many reporters in her private space.

Callender said the family was doing renovations and planned on raising their perimeter wall by at least a foot as they were cognizant of the dire crime situation in the country. Had this been done earlier she said, her aunt might still be alive.

A resident who asked not to be identified, was seen installing a gate which he said would hopefully prevent people from accessing his property. He told Newsday he was not at home when the shooting happened but his wife and their 11-year-old son were at home.

He said the concrete walls of his house was struck by at least five bullets but fortunately, none had penetrated although the bullets left holes in the outer surface of the walls. A bullet also penetrated a window, but the man's relatives were unhurt.

Recalling the incident, Saunders-Callender said: “It was so frightening. It was a barrage of gunfire, that's all I remember.”

Asked if she could ever forgive the gunman who killed her sister, Saunders-Callender said: "Yes, but first he must be held accountable.

“Yes I can forgive, but he must still pay for his crimes. My forgiveness doesn't mean he gets off scot free." Up to press time, the gunman remained at large.