A San Fernando teenager’s bullet-riddled body had to be fished out of a river near Trinidad Cement’s Claxton Bay plant early yesterday. Police are working with the theory that 17-year-old Michael “Chucky” Miguel, of Building One, Embacadere, was gunned down after he was mistaken for his elder brother Marlon. The elder Miguel is serving a prison sentence for assaulting a man during an ongoing war between the Pleasantville and Broadway gangs. Relatives believe Michael was killed because of the rivalry. Police said scores of patrons had gathered at a bar near Claxton Bay junction around 4 am after a party at TCL’s Recreational Ground. They said Miguel and his friends — Wayne Richards and Anthony Cummings, also from Embacadere — were liming in the bar when a group of men walked in and began questioning him about his brother.
A brawl broke out, with bottles being thrown. Eventually, one of the men pulled out a gun and fired several shots, hitting bystander Shaquille Duncan in the leg. Miguel and his friends ran off along the Southern Main Road, but the gunman chased them and continued shooting. Richards was later found near the river with a gunshot wound to the back, while Miguel was found in the water with multiple wounds to the head and upper body. Duncan and Richards were rushed to hospital where they were treated for gunshot wounds and remained hospitalised last night.
Police, including Supt Anthony James, ASP Robert Williams and Insp Don Gajadhar, searched the area for the suspects. Up to late yesterday no one had been held, but investigators are confident of arrests.
Although he was described as a “good boy” who rarely got into trouble, Miguel’s 19-year-old sister said the ongoing feud between Pleasantville and Embacadere had affected her family.
She said Miguel was expelled from the Pleasantville Secondary School two years ago because of a fight, so he was never able to write exams. Last year, when he and Marlon took part in a Life Sport programme, training in football and basketball at Pleasantville, she said both of them had to drop out because of gang violence. She said Miguel did not attend the party in Claxton Bay but went to lime with friends. She said he had too much bad company for friends, although he never did the wrong things they did. “He was nice but a little ignorant. All teens have a little ignorance in them,” she added.