The daylight murder of a Maracas/St Joseph man triggered anger among residents yesterday who linked the crime to the lack of order in the criminal underworld.
Residents said since the murder of reputed Maracas/StJoseph gang leader Kerlan “Miceman” George earlier this year “the place have no order”.
George and another man, Shameel Ali, were shot dead on January 19, a short distance for the district’s police station.
Yesterday, two gunmen shot and killed Kareem Fernando as he sat on some steps off La Mango Road reading newspapers.
Friends of Fernando cried openly as his body remained slouched on some steps for hours. They said he was killed in “his spot”.
Police said that around 11.40 am residents heard what they thought was the sound of galvanize banging and later found the body of the 30-year-old man. Two men were seen running away from the scene.
Fernando’s friends said he was arrested once some years ago for cultivating marijuana but that he should not be labelled as a drug dealer and his death should not be classified as drug-related since he was employed as a labourer with the Ministry of Agriculture’s Re-Afforestation programme.
Police could not give a motive for his killing since Fernando was not known to them to be involved in any criminal activity.
Residents say Fernando, who they called “Brain” was killed because there was an imbalance in the underworld in the area.
“Since they kill d’ boss (Kerlan “Miceman” George) everything outta order we don’t have a leader again, the place have no order. I was telling the police that he used to keep the place under control, now anything is anything,” one resident said.
Residents said Fernando was a peacemaker.
Fernando’s sister Tennille said her brother was a quiet man who mostly kept to himself and lived alone.
She said like most of the killings for the year, she did not expect her brother’s murder to be solved.
In an unrelated killing, police were up to yesterday unsure of a motive for the killing of 23-year-old Akeil Mitchell who was shot dead outside his Windy Hill, Arouca home on Tuesday night.
According to police reports around 10.35 pm residents heard gunshots and later found Mitchell in his underwear to the back of his home with bullet wounds to the head.
Police suspected that Mitchell was ambushed as he was about to take a bath to the back of his home.
The latest killings have taken the number of people murdered for the year to 148.
