Bring back the love: Candlelight vigil after Argyle murders

GRIEVING families, neighbours and concerned villagers held a candlelight vigil in Argyle on September 24, calling for an end to the gun violence that shattered the quietness in their community.

Last weekend, two young men were gunned down in the rural village, known for its farming and fishing, pushing the island's murder toll to a record 24 for 2024.

On September 20, 27-year-old Brandon Edwards of Lammy Road, Argyle was shot and killed near his home. A stone’s throw away, on September 22, 32-year-old Nicholas "Daddy T" Mitchell was murdered at his home.

Mitchell’s mother, Ann Marie Mitchell, who was asleep in the upstairs part of the home heard the gunshots and later found her son's body. She said she heard rumours that her son and others were marked for death following the murder of Beetham Gardens resident Victoria Amanda “Dolly Boss” Guerra in August in Argyle.

Vice chairman of the Argyle Village Council Delmond Edwards told Newsday that the vigil was organised by the council "to pay respects to the fallen."

He said, "It was heart-wrenching to the community, seeing that two young persons find themselves victims of crime. As a village council, we saw the need to come out and stand in solidarity with the parents and the community, and also to avoid the stigma.”

Edwards said Argyle was not known to be a crime-ridden area.

“Our community is really getting a bad stigma from the outer villages.

"Argyle was once known for two things: the waterfall and the love within the community. We find, of late, we are seeing the negative influence coming into the community – which is the gangs – and they are influencing the younger ones.”

He said the initiative was a success.

“For me, it was. The turnout was very impressive; it was a mixture of young, old and what was telling is that a lot of young fellas were out there with their candles. They definitely aren’t pleased with the way things are going in the community.”

He said the vigil is the first step taken by the council to help uplift the community.

“We have a meeting carded to discuss some mentorship programmes where we are looking at partnering with the THA and both MPs, Ayanna Webster-Roy and Mrs (Shamfa) Cudjoe-Lewis. They can come into our community and offer the programmes that we see they’re offering across Tobago.

"We see the need to have successful people who have come from depressed communities and still did good for themselves.”

He said the council is also keen on working with the police.

Questioned about gangs within the community, he said: “What I can say is that there is some outside influence, I can’t say which gang or what gang is influencing, but this is not our culture within Argyle.

"I cannot verify that it is gang violence but what I can say is that this is something unexpected and something that we did not expect within the community.”

He said many were unaware that "Dolly Boss" was residing or vacationing in Argyle.

He said the rumour of a hit list was very concerning, but he was unsure of its veracity.

“It would be worrying to find out there is a hit list.

"As a matter of fact, two of the individuals are related to me, and to know that there is a hit list, I mean, we can possibly have other family members losing their lives. It is very worrying and that is why we are undertaking these initiatives to stem this kind of violence in the community.

"We’re hoping to stamp it out; well it’s already out of hand, but we want to stop it before it goes further than this.”

He said the village council will continue to offering whatever assistance they can to the affected families.