Children's Authority disturbed by increasing violence against children

The Children’s Authority of TT condemns Thursday morning’s mass shooting, with its director calling for an end to crime in the country.

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, gunmen stormed a house at Guanapo Heights, Arima, killing three children and wounding two others. The incident ended with four dead and five injured.

In a release yesterday, the authority condemned the increase in gun violence that is affecting communities and threatening the lives and safety of the country’s children.

Citing an incident earlier this week in which a one-year-old Venezuelan child was struck by a stray bullet while playing outside his home, the authority said: “Many children have suffered injuries and loss of life, as a result of violent acts committed against them by adults or among adults.”

Director/CEO of the authority Sheldon Cyrus appealed for an end to crime in Trinidad and Tobago.

“The fallout of the war that citizens are waging against each other is leading to broken families. Children also are forced to grow up without their parents and relatives, and parents and relatives are grieving the loss of their children,” he said.

“The psychological toll that all this loss and grief takes on our society is wide-reaching. The impact goes even further, as our children are now growing in a space where they must be hyper-vigilant - unable to play, rest or even sleep peacefully in their homes.”

The authority renewed its call for the country to return to the “village” system, where people took care of each other.

In another release, the TT Council of Evangelical Churches made an urgent appeal to young men to be “aware of the grief and pain they that are inflicting upon this nation.

“The pain is becoming unbearable. How many more must die? We are appealing to the young men to please put down your guns and consider that violence breeds violence,” it said.

The council called on the young men to turn their hearts toward God before it was too late. It added that the council stood ready to support the government and all stakeholders to develop strategies to combat the ongoing scourge of criminal activity in TT.