A 37-year-old Arima man was shot dead in Laventille on Saturday night in the sixth murder for the long Indian Arrival Day/Corpus Christi weekend. The murder victims have been identified as Ulo Cummings, 31, of Eastern Quarry, Laventille; Nigel Gordon, of Chin Chin Road, Cunupia; David Felix, of Upper Wharton Street, Laventille; Sheldon Bishop, 39, of Mahabir Lands, Morvant; Havilah Archibald, 24, of Old Southern Main Road, Chaguanas; and Terrence Ross, 37, of Malabar Road, Arima.
In the latest incident, Ross was murdered and his two friends wounded in a shooting at St Barbs’ Road, Laventille, at around 10 pm on Saturday night.
Police said Ross, a labourer, was liming with Keon Guy, 22, and 25-year-old Akeem Waterman, both of Malabar, Arima, when they were approached by a man who began shooting at them. Ross was shot several times in his head and chest, Guy was shot in his groin and buttocks while Waterman sustained a gunshot wound to his hip. The gunman then fled the scene via a flight of stairs which leads to a connecting community.
The three were rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where Ross was pronounced dead on arrival. His friends underwent emergency surgery and were warded in a stable condition up to yesterday afternoon. Police said Ross was not a known criminal and they are working on the theory that the shooting was connected to his relationship with a woman in the community.
“Non-residents are attacked for having relationships with women from that community. It may seem petty, but that is the situation in Laventille,” a senior officer said yesterday. Investigations are continuing into the other murders. On Thursday night, Cummings was shot dead near his home. His bullet-riddled body was discovered near a drain by his relatives on Friday morning. At around 5 pm on Friday, Gordon was stabbed to death during an argument with a man at Enterprise, Chaguanas.
Less than four hours later, at 8.35 pm, Felix was shot dead on Queen Street in Port-of-Spain. Half hour after Felix’s murder, police were summoned to Morvant when Bishop was killed while walking along a road near his home. Supermarket supervisor Archibald was shot twice in her head while liming at a popular bar at Railway Road, Chaguanas. Police said at around 5 am on Saturday, Archibald and her friends were liming at the bar when they had an altercation with another group.
Police said that after arguing for some time, the groups dispersed. A short while later patrons at the bar heard gunshots. Archibald was shot and was taken to hospital where she died. The other patrons escaped unhurt.