After he disobeyed his grandmother and left his Laventille home, 16-year-old Ken-Kerishe Kyle Gumbs was shot dead in St Barb’s, Laventille, on Monday afternoon, taking the country’s murder toll to 112. The comparative toll for last year was 104. Gumbs, of Marcano Quarry, Laventille, was walking along St Barb’s around 2.30 pm with 20-year-old Michael Jessop when a man approached and opened fire on them.
Jessop was shot in the foot while Gumbs was shot about the body. They were taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Gumbs was pronounced dead and Jessop was treated and warded. Speaking with the media outside the Forensic Science Centre yesterday, Gumbs’ grandmother, 59-year-old Cheryl Isaac, said she wasn't sure of the events that led to her grandson’s death but things like that happened when children followed bad company.
She said the teen, who transferred from South East Port-of-Spain to a military-run Milat/Mypart programme, was warned not to go outside. Isaac said she and her husband, Fred, along with another relative, went to the Eric Williams Medical Complex after she began feeling ill and on leaving told Gumbs to stay home. Around 5 pm her husband got a phone call about her grandson’s death. Isaac said Gumbs was a very smart boy in primary school but developed an attitude as he got older and was following the wrong crowd.