Cousins killed minutes apart in Maloney

Two cousins were shot and killed minutes and metres apart in Maloney by an unknown assailant.

Dead are 21-year-old Micah Shavel Alfred and 27-year-old Jahvill Joseph, who both lived at Bitten Boulevard, Maloney Gardens.

Reports say around 12.55pm on May 23, Alfred was having his hair cut at a nearby barbershop on Kiskedee Lane when a silver Kia car, registration number PCP 1564, pulled up in front of the shop. A man described as having a brown complexion, wearing dark-coloured clothing, a mask and hat, got out from the front passenger side holding a gun.

He pointed the gun at Alfred and began shooting. Alfred got up and ran inside the barber’s house, where he collapsed.

The gunman then got back into the waiting car and drove a few metres away. Within minutes, residents reported hearing gunshots.

Joseph was standing in front of a minimart at Kingbird Drive when the same car pulled up beside him and a man matching the description of his cousin's killer got out, holding a gun. The man shouted to Joseph, “Don’t move,” before shooting him several times.

The gunman got back into the waiting car, which drove off.

Alfred's mother, Crystal Joseph-Albert, took him to the Arima Hospital, where Dr Jabir Muhammed pronounced him dead on arrival by at 1.20 pm.

When first responders arrived at Kingbird Drive, they found Joseph lying in a pool of blood with gunshot wounds.

Seven spent 9mm shells and three fragments were found at Kingbird Drive and at Kiskedee Lane, police retrieved 14 spent nine-mm shells, one deformed projectile, one fragment and a magazine with 14 live rounds of nine-mm ammunition.

Maloney police are investigating.

A resident who lives near the mini mart and did not wish to be identified told Newsday they heard the gunshots, which panicked their mother.

"She got really afraid and started to run. I had to hold her back from running outside."

The resident said the mini mart was often busy and there was also construction taking place.

"We waited about ten minutes before walking outside to see what happened and that was when we saw Joseph on the floor covered in blood."

On May 15, Michael Junior Augustine of St Michael Road, Tacarigua, was standing outside a mini mart in Maloney Gardens when a man walked up and pulled out a gun.

Augustine ran into the mini-mart owner’s home and the gunman followed, shooting him dead.

The mini mart’s owner chopped the gunman several times with a cutlass.

Police believe the incident was gang-related.