Trinidad and Tobago crosses 500 murder mark in record time: The grim reality

IN under 300 days, Trinidad and Tobago has recorded over 500 murders – a staggering and grim reality.

There are many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean whose yearly murder tolls do not even compare.

In 2023, TT, which has a population of 1.5 million people, recorded 577 murders.

El Salvador which has a population of 6.4 million people, saw 154 murders in 2023, while Panama with a population of 4.4 million saw 508 murders.

Puerto Rico, a territory of the Caribbean, has a population of 3.2 million people and saw 464 murders.

In the smaller islands of the Caribbean, St Kitts, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands, St Lucia, Guyana and the Bahamas combined for 450 murders.

These six countries have a total population of roughly 1.6 million people – roughly 100,000 more people and 127 less murders.

Trending to 635

TT's 500th murder was recorded October 15, when Mark Alexander, 29, was gunned down in Quarry Road, San Juan.

Police inquiries revealed around 1 pm, Alexander was standing on Quarry Road, San Juan waiting for his son to return home from school when a gunman approached and shot at him multiple times.

Police said around 1.30 pm on October 15 they responded to the gunshots.

They found Alexander bleeding from his head and arms and a neighbour took him to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex.

Alexander received treatment, but later died. Crime scene investigators found 12 .9mm spent shells at the scene.

Early on the morning of October 16, a 63-year-old man was killed in a suspected house-breaking, taking the murder toll to 501.

The dead man was identified as Ronald Ramjag.

Police said around 3.20 am on October 16, a man at Maracas Royal Road was awoken by barking dogs.

He saw three men in dark clothing holding Ramjag inside his home. The man locked himself inside his bedroom and contacted the police. The men tried but failed to break open his bedroom door.

The man climbed through his bedroom window and hid while the three intruders escaped.

In August the country saw its bloodiest month for 2024, with 68 murders being recorded – two more than July, which had 66.

August tied for the second bloodiest month in TT's history with August 2022.

In November 2021 there were 69 murders – the all-time record.

The monthly murder toll has been 60 or more ten times in the past: in January and May of 2018 (60 each); July 2019 (60); November 2021 (69); July (65), August (68) and October (66) of 2022; and in January, (61), July (66) and August (68) of 2024.

In 2023, the murder toll crossed 500 during November – one month later than this year's 500 mark.

Based on Newsday's calculations from January-September, the country averages 53 murders per month.

If the trend continues at the same rate, it will take the country's year-end murder toll to 635.

The murder toll as at October 19 was 505.

Detection rate under 10 per cent

On July 14, Commissioner of Police (CoP) Erla Harewood-Christopher said she aimed to reduce homicides by ten per cent and achieve a 25 per cent detection rate.

She said her violent-crime-reduction plan was a holistic one aimed at managing violent crime.

“We are focusing on the dismantling of criminal gangs, the retrieval of illegal firearms, the eradication of drug blocks, and increased focus on transnational crime. We are enhancing our police intelligence capability. We are leveraging the use of technology to enhance police operations.”

Harewood-Christopher said the police continued to monitor the targets set out in the plan.

While the CoP has a plan to reduce a range of criminal offences, the homicide detection rate is under ten per cent.

As at August, the homicide detection rate stood at 8.37 per cent – 35 of 418 murders were detected.

Newsday contacted Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of intelligence and investigations Suzette Martin for a comment on the detection rate on October 19.

However, she was unable to answer questions as she was at the dentist at the time and said to call in an hour.

Newsday tried again, but the call went unanswered, with Martin texting, "Sorry, I can't talk right now."

MP for Oropouche East Dr Roodal Moonilal released a statement on October 16 about the murder toll and the government's approach to the issue.

"It is a brutal and cruel irony that the 500th homicide in 2024 has taken place during passage of the national budget, in which the government has once again attempted to throw big money without a critical analysis of the emergency."

He said the government has been ineffective in responding to the "ever-worsening security crisis."

Moonilal extended his sympathies to the family and friends of crime victims and advised citizens to take the necessary precautions.

Multiple murders

March 11 - Four farmers shot dead by six men who identified themselves as police officers in Mayaro.

Jeremiah George, 20, his brother Marcus Buddy, 37, and their father, Buddy George, 59, all of Martha Street, Couva, along with gardener Dion Keyon Mendoza, 29, were made to lie face-down on the ground as the gunmen pumped bullets into their heads at close range.

March 16 - Around 10.55 am while the residents of Harpe Place were liming, gunmen went into the area and started shooting indiscriminately. Eight people were hit. Rudolph James, 46, 51-year-old police sergeant Larry Phillip, Randy Greaves, 32, Peter Noray, 49 and Devon Jack, 42, were killed.

May 4 - Four people killed and eight people wounded in a mass shooting in Powder Magazine, Cocorite.

The dead were Shaquille Ottley, 22, Antonio Jack 57, Sadiki Ottley, 31 and Jonathan Osmond, 36, all of Phase 1, Powder Magazine.

Some of the most recent triple murders were recorded on:

July 14 (Cunupia) – Dave Lyons, 24, Jah-Marley Goddard, 23, and Earl Peters, 33, ambushed and killed by gunmen at Rituals/Pizza Boys, Southern Main Road, Cunupia.

September 5 (Icacos) – Joshua Sadoo, 21, Karreem Celestine, 36, and Jabari Kenyon Abiola, 26, killed in Icacos; three Venezuelans – a 24-year-old woman, a 45-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy – injured.

September 9 - Marlon Lee, 41, Maleek Lee, 17, and Salina Rodriguez, 34, all gunned down at their home at Sita Trace off Pioneer Drive, Petit Valley.