Maloney resident is September's first murder victim

AUGUST 2024 was the bloodiest month in Trinidad and Tobago's history, and the bloodshed looks set to continue in September as police search for leads in the murder of Maloney resident Vinod Hamid, despite other residents' refusal to co-operate with them.

Hamid, 41, of Sanderling Boulevard was shot dead in his garage on September 1.

Officers received a call about a shooting near a barbershop at around 5.45 pm.

When they arrived they saw a crowd gathered in the road.

A community member told police Hamid was shot and was taken to the Arima Health Facility by a man who lived nearby.

Police were told at around 5.30 pm, Hamid was at home sitting on a chair in his garage when residents heard several gunshots.

When the shooting stopped, a neighbour went to check on Hamid and found him on the ground, bleeding from gunshot wounds.

He appeared to still be alive and another neighbour took him to the hospital.

Police tried to get additional information but said people they tried to question were un-co-operative and hostile.

Homicide Region Two officers went to the Arima Health Facility, where they were told Hamid was pronounced dead at 6.05 pm.

Officers from the Special Evidence Recovery Unit found more than a dozen spent 9mm shells near Hamid’s house.

Hamid’s body was taken to a funeral home to be stored until an autopsy is done.

Seventy murders were recorded in August 2024 – the highest-ever monthly murder toll in TT – while July 2024 was the fourth bloodiest month in TT's history, with 66 murders.

Sixty-eight murders were recorded in August 2022 and there were 69 in November 2021.