Highway shooting leaves man dead, 2 women injured in Arima

ONE man is dead and two women are injured after gunmen shot at the car they were in on the night of November 22.

The dead man has been identified as Julio Layne, of Temple Street, Arima.

Reports say Layne was returning home after liming at the Brickhouse Bar in Valencia with two women, aged 32 and 24, both from Pineapple Drive, Valencia.

The 32-year-old woman was driving the silver-grey B-15 when gunmen forced her off the roadway, and the car collided with a guardrail. The gunmen then opened fire on them. Layne got out of the front passenger seat and began running when he was shot multiple times.

Layne died at the scene. Both women were reported to be injured.

The incident occurred on the Churchill Roosevelt Highway near Santa Rosa.

When emergency services arrived, the 24-year-old woman was found bleeding in the back seat. The driver had not been shot but was injured in the crash.

A total of 47 spent casings were recovered.

On April 17, Layne’s sister Alana Layne and another woman were liming at a birthday celebration on St Rose Street, off Temple Street, Arima, when gunmen shot at them. Alana was shot in the head and died four days later.

Police reports said six armed men surrounded the house and shot at the family.

CCTV footage from the night showed a shootout between two of the gunmen and someone at the party.

Three men were arrested and each charged with eight offences: two murders, four wounding charges and possession of arms and ammunition.

In 2007, Layne’s grandmother, Lilly Layne, was shot and killed at Nutones and Despers Crescent. A gunman shot her four times at point-blank range. She bled to death.

Lilly had appeared before Justice Malcolm Holdip in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court in 2005, charged with possession of drugs in 2002 in Arima.