[UPDATED] Salesman, 21, killed in Tobago robbery

WHILE many people are celebrating Christmas, today, with their loved ones, a Tobago family will be mourning the violent loss of one of their own.

Zachary Lindow, 21, a salesman of Top Hill, Pembroke, was shot and killed while conducting business at the Bacolet convenience store on December 23.

He is Tobago’s 26th murder victim for 2024 and the island’s first killing in over two months.

Police said around 6.30 pm, Lindow and a 52-year-old co-worker went to the store on Bacolet Street to conduct sales.

While they were inside the store, two armed men, dressed in hoodies, entered and announced a hold-up.

Police said the men were told to lie on the floor and Lindow, a father of one, was relieved of an undisclosed sum of cash. The assailants then pointed their guns at the men and shot them.

The gunmen escaped through some nearby bushes.

Lindow, who was shot on the left side of his back, died on the spot.

His coworker, a salesman/driver, of Glamorgan, was shot in the abdomen. He was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital, where he remains warded in a critical condition.

The District Medical Officer visited the scene and pronounced Lindow dead at 8.10 pm. He then ordered the body’s removal to the mortuary of the Scarborough Hospital, pending a forensic post-mortem.

WPC De Gannes is investigating.

At the scene of the incident, Lindow’s mother, Abby Bailey, was inconsolable.

“They kill Zachary, they kill me meh child for money!

"Meh child does work for he money,” Bailey wailed, her body limp. She was supported by crying relatives.

Bailey said she wanted to see her dead son’s body. He would have turned 22 on Boxing Day.

Earl Elie, Senior Superintendent, Tobago Division, told reporters the men were employed with a distribution company from Goldsborough and were making a delivery when the incident occurred.

He expressed condolences to Lindow’s family, assuring that all measures were being taken to apprehend his killers.

“We are actively engaging the assailants as we speak. A manhunt is under way. We have all units of the Tobago police actively engaged in the hunt for those assailants. We are hoping they will be captured,” he said.

Elie said as a father, he felt the Lindow family’s pain.

“I don’t think any words could express how a parent would feel and I am listening to the weeping of the mother and family, and it really hurts my heart to see that this is a young, productive gentlemen from society actually looking to earn an honest dollar and this is the fate.”

He lamented that the police have been making strides arresting and charging suspects, but they are being granted bail.

Elie said this is a major challenge confronting the police.

“We are faced with many challenges – some of them beyond our control – but we are doing the best we could to arrest this situation.”

'Mother's cry on all of us'

Commenting on the island’s latest killing, PNM Tobago Council political leader Ancil Dennis, in a Facebook post, said Lindow’s mother’s grief is “one of the most heart-breaking and bothersome reminders of the fragility of humanity and our now extremely callous way of life."

He said the two victims were simply trying to earn a honest day's work.

“It forces me to ask the question, ‘What have we allowed ourselves to become as individuals, as communities, as a society?’”

He said when senseless violence takes a life, “it tears through families and communities, leaving wounds that may never heal.

“The pain of that mother is a cry not just for her son but for all of us to see how far we’ve drifted from the compassion and connection that should bind us together.”

Dennis said although “murder, mayhem and general criminality now appears to be the daily occupation of too many, we are not bound to remain this way.

“We have the capacity for change through love, justice, through standing against violence and illegality in all forms within and without our homes and communities.

“Grief like that mother’s can break us but it can also ignite us to do better, to work harder, to demand more of ourselves and the systems that shape our lives.”

He lamented that criminals "find shelter and coverage from those around them that are often aware of their wicked crimes."

Duke: Youths need to work

Progressive Democratic Patriots political leader Watson Duke, meanwhile, urged the Tobago House of Assembly to create more opportunities for young people to work.

He believes there should be a social worker assigned to every village in Tobago.

“There must be a real and sincere social worker assigned, going around to the boys on the block, talking to them. Find out what their pursuits in life are, how they could assist them. Get them enrolled in a government programme,” he said in a Facebook video on December 24.

He claimed there were many unemployed young people in Tobago with social-work degrees and no employment.

Duke accused Secretary of Health, Wellness and Social Protection Dr Faith BYisrael of making a mockery of the system.

“Where are the social workers dealing with these guys out here with unlicensed firearms? Before the police reach them, the social worker supposed to reach them.

“If we stop those who behind the trigger, then we could save the violence in our country. If we could stop those behind the knife, behind the cutlass, if we could somewhat re-channel their thoughts, we would be able to save our nation.”

He urged religious leaders to look out for the “unfortunate ones” in the society.

“That is true religion – not preaching a sermon. It is not how good you could execute a text. That is not true religion.

“True religion are people on the ground who meet people broken, empty and you take them and nurse them and put them on your donkey and you even pay money if you have to, to ensure you restore them back to normalcy in the society.”

The Roxborough/Belle Garden East/Delaford assemblyman lamented that “thug life” appears to be the order of the day.

“As it is now, thug life running things. Listening to this gangster music, feeling like a gun in their waist making them powerful.

“But every time a man squeeze the trigger, he must understand that your day is coming. When your day come, somebody might squeeze the trigger on you.”

He appealed to criminals to end the violence.

“Let’s put down the gun. Let’s put down the easy money.”

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A 21-year-old store worker is Tobago’s latest murder victim.

He has been identified as Zachary Lindow, of Pembroke.

Police said around 6.30 pm on December 23, Lindow and his co-worker, Jay Job, 52, were at work at the Bacolet convenience store when two men wearing masks approached them.

The men demanded cash from them and they struggled. During the struggle, the assailants pulled out their guns and shot at Lindow and Job.

The perpetrators then escaped through some nearby bushes.

Lindow died on the spot. Job was taken to the Scarborough General Hospital, where he remains warded in a critical condition.

Lindow is the island’s 26th murder victim for 2024.

WPC De Gannes is investigating.