Man shot dead hours after escaping murder attempt

A MAN who escaped an attempt on his life on the night of  March 6 was killed just hours later on the morning of March 7 when gunmen pulled alongside his car on the highway and unleashed a hail of bullets.

On the night of March 6, Richard ‘Mansion’ Mark, 32, of Petit Valley was in Trincity when gunmen opened fire on the car he was driving.

Mark was able to escape without any injuries and fled to an area nearby where he hid from his attackers.

He contacted someone from Petit Valley and asked them to pick him up at the location where he was hiding.

Two people in a Nissan Wingroad picked up Mark around midnight.

The trio left the area and was driving west along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway when a dark-coloured vehicle pulled alongside theirs near the Curepe Interchange.

The occupants of the car began shooting at the trio.

The driver of the bullet-riddled car sped away before stopping on the shoulder near the Bamboo Settlement walkover.

The driver and the front-seat passenger then exited the car and ran off as the suspects drove past them and turned south onto the Uriah Butler Highway.

Both men then ran across the highway to a police car parked near the Cipriani College of Labour & Co-operative Studies and told the officers what had happened.

Officers went with the men to the scene where they found the car with its back-seat passenger side riddled with bullet holes.

Mark was slumped over in the back seat with multiple gunshot injuries.

A district medical officer visited the scene and declared Mark dead before ordering his body to be removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for further examination.

Police told Newsday Mark was known to them and said his death is likely to be drug- and gang-related.

Investigations are continuing into the incident.