Murder toll hits 41 — 5 killed overnight

Three victims have been identified as 63-year-old taxi driver Reynold “Beige” Marshall and Sheldon Clarke, who were reportedly killed in separate robberies, and Arima resident Anthony Skeete.

Late yesterday afternoon two persons were found shot to death at Leslie Lane, off Second Caledonia in Morvant. The men remain unidentified but police are working on the alleged premise that the killings were a reprisal for the murder of Reynold Marshall.

Another man, Kenwin Thomas, was also shot and killed by another man while reportedly playing with a firearm, but his killing is still to be classified by investigators.

In Morvant, Marshall, the father of seven, and grandfather of baby Luke Marshall — who died from complications due to bacterial meningitis at the Eric Williams Medical Science Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope — died almost six hours after he was shot and stabbed by bandits who drove away with his vehicle.

Relatives recovered Marshall’s stolen vehicle mere metres from his home at Second Caledonia Road Extension. The bodies of the two unidentified men were found mere metres away from the car.

Relatives had just returned from hospital at about 11 am yesterday, when they got news that the vehicle was abandoned in a track at Second Caledonia.

Reports are that shortly before 9 pm Friday night, Marshall was plying his Mitsubishi Cedia Lancer when he was accosted by armed bandits at Industrial Lane, Morvant, close to Neal and Massy Motors. He resisted the men and was shot and stabbed in both legs before he was dealt a final crucial stab to the stomach, severing an artery.

However, during the attack, he still managed to stab one of the assailants, he told relatives as he lay on his death bed.

Marshall was rushed to the EWMSC but doctors were unable to stop the bleeding, despite their efforts. He died at about 2.45 am yesterday.

At the family home yesterday, Donna Marshall-John said the incident was “puzzling” as the killers abandoned her father’s car close to their home. She said her father would normally arrive home at the time when he was killed.

“Normally around that time does be his last trip. I am certain,” Marshall-John said.

She was still in disbelief that her father had been murdered. “I cannot believe my daddy is gone,” she repeated several times over.

The incident stirred memories, she said, of November, last year, when she was kidnapped and had to jump out of a moving car in order to save herself.

“For us it is like, when will it end?” she questioned.

In an unrelated incident in Arima, 31-year-old Anthony Skeete, of Punette Avenue, Pinto Road, Arima, was shot dead just minutes after an altercation with another man.

Reports are that Skeete was standing at the corner of Queen and Farfan Streets at about 2.15 am yesterday, when a gunman walked up and shot him in his head and neck. Skeete was rushed to the Arima Health Facility where he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Investigators suspect the killing might have been linked to an altercation he had with another man while liming at the Circle Square Bar minutes earlier.

Meantime, hours earlier at Dundonald Hill, St James, Sheldon Clarke, of Dundonald Hill, was sitting in a vehicle at about 9.45 pm, when a gunman walked up and announced a hold-up.

Clarke who was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle, attempted to run off and was shot in his head. He died instantly.

And just 15 minutes after Clarke’s killing, Kenwin Thomas, 34, of Mc Intosh Street, Morvant, was liming with other persons at Henry Street, Port-of-Spain when he was shot in his neck.

Police sources said they received information that a man known to the accused was showing a firearm to the accused at the back of the old “Drag Mall”, when a single shot was fired striking Thomas in his neck.

He died moments later. Investigators were in search of the shooter for questioning.

It is believed that the shooter might have removed the clip from the firearm, but did not know that a bullet was already chambered.

Homicide Bureau detectives Insp Hudson and Sgt Michael Veronique led a team of investigators including PCs Linch, Ricardo Joseph-Perez and Mc Cain to the crime scenes at St James and Henry Street.