A pensioner was among two men who were murdered in Arima and Laventille between Sunday night and yesterday morning. In the first incident around 11 pm Sunday, residents of Phase Six, La Horquetta, Arima, reported hearing a volley of gunshots. La Horquetta police responded and found 35-year-old Devon Gibbs lying in a drain. He was suffering from several gunshot wounds to his chest and died on the scene.
Crime scene investigators said several spent 9 mm shells were recovered near his body. Police said Gibbs had a criminal record and have classified his murder as gang-related. Less than two hours after Gibbs was killed, 63-year-old Melvin Sandy, of First Hamlet Street, St Barb’s Road, Laventille, was shot dead in his home. Police reports stated that around 1.30 am, Sandy’s neighbours were awakened by several gunshots. After Sandy failed to answer their calls, the residents contacted his nephew Dexter Joseph, who lives nearby.
Joseph later found Sandy lying on the floor of his living room. He had been shot several times and was pronounced dead on the scene. Homicide detectives said Sandy was not known to police but noted that several of his relatives were suspected members of a gang which operated in the community. Investigators said his murder may be a message to his family from a rival gang. The murder toll for the year now stands at 161. According to statistics from the Police Service’s Crime and Problem Analysis Department, there were 166 murders recorded for the same period, last year.