Homicide detectives are investigating the early-morning murder yesterday of a 28-year-old Laventille man which raised the murder toll for the year to 103. Police said around 4.30 am, Marvin “Brad” Gift, of Shouter Hill, Mc Shine Lands, Laventille, and his relatives were sleeping at their home when they were awoken by loud banging on the front door followed by men shouting: “Police.”
Relatives said Gift got up to investigate and several moments later they heard gunshots and later found him lying near the door with gunshot wounds to his head and chest. By the time members of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), who were on patrol in the area, arrived Gift had died of his injuries. Police are working on the theory that he was attacked by two gunmen or by one man carrying two guns, as crime scene investigators found spent shells of two different calibres near his body.
Investigators initially believed that Gift’s murder was gang-related because of the method used by his attackers but checks with Port-of-Spain CID showed he was not known to police as a gang member. “We are still trying to figure out why they killed him,” a senior homicide detective said in a phone interview yesterday afternoon. ASP May Harris, Insp Michael Veronique and Cpl Modeste of the Region One Homicide Bureau visited the scene and are continuing investigations.