Carapo man shot dead in car

Four years after his brother was shot dead, Christino Perreira met a similarly violent death when a gunman shot him eight times.

Perreira, 55, lived at Race Course Road, Carapo, Arima by himself, in the same house where his brother Darren Perreira was killed.

Around 9.15 pm on Wednesday residents heard several gunshots and saw Perreira’s car in his yard with the driver’s door open and Perreira in the driver’s seat with gunshot wounds to his head.

The district medical officer pronounced him dead and his body was ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for a post-mortem.

Police have not yet determined a motive and have not said if it was linked to his brother’s death.

However, speaking with the media at the forensic centre, relatives say they believe his death may be linked to a recent disagreement he had with someone. Theydid not go into detail.

They said Perreira was a religious man who lived a simple life and worked hard.

“It's not like he going and do crime and he robbing anybody. He not doing that. He getting up and he working his truck from 5 am till 9 am, and then work taxi until evening, and then he rests and go back and do the same thing again the next day.”

They said the father of three ran a church out of his house before he eventually opened a mini mart.

“Every Sunday he used to have Bible study and did preaching...he was always a real kind person and always helpful. Anybody who had difficulty in understanding the Bible, he will sit down and explain it at length. Everybody used to listen attentively because they just love to hear how he explains things.”

Hours after his death, video footage of Perreira’s body, still in the car, began circulating on social media. His family described the footage as disgusting and begged people to stop sharing it.

“You’re telling me you see this and take out your phone, although you know this person all your life in the village, to (record) that and to remember them as that?

“When I saw it, that's all I could see afterwards and I couldn't sleep. All night, every time I close my eyes, I seeing that image. So oh gosh, how you go do that?”

They say the family was devastated by Perreira’s brother's death in 2020, and never expected to experience that kind of loss again.

“You see it all over, the rampant crime, but when it actually reach home, it's a really different, different feeling.”

The family said they don’t anticipate the government will get crime under control.

They pointed to a lack of TTPS CCTV cameras in the village despite the level of crime in the community.

As matter of fact, relatives said they believe the lack of proper crime-deterrent measures in the area may have contributed to Perreira’s death.

“When (the area) was getting bad there was a police post and an army base there. With these you could still feel a little comfort in the village, knowing that you could see a (police) jeep or an army truck passing.

“It is still a high-risk community, so why don’t they put that back in place, at least to keep (crime) down?”