Four men shot

SUB-CONTRACTOR of the National Housing Authority’s (NHA) housing project in Tarouba, Anthony Mohammed, was about to pay his workers when four gunmen opened fire on them, injuring him and three others. The bandits escaped without getting any money from the paymaster. But one of the injured men, Michael Sawh, 42, was shot in his right leg, hit on his head with a gun butt and robbed of his fortnight salary — $900.

The sub-contractor and 43-year-old Junior Thomas were also shot in their right leg at point blank range, while the third victim, Earl Harris, 26, of Penal, was shot in his left hip area. They are all warded in a satisfactory condition at the San Fernando General Hospital. Speaking from his hospital bed yesterday Mohammed, 33, of Embacadere said around 6.30 pm on Friday he had returned to the site after collecting the workers’ salaries from the bank. He said he was about to pay some 30 workers when, “All I hear ‘robbery’ and see four men with bandana on their faces and guns. They ask where is the money and they start shooting.” The bandits did not get the bag of money because Mohammed had given the bag to another man, who ran off when the bandits started shooting.

Mohammed complained that prior to the incident, he had asked NHA officials to put measures in place so he could collect the money from the bank earlier instead of late in the evening. Sawh, of La Romaine, said: “I was on my way to the car with my salary when a man push me down and hold on to my shirt and ask me where the paymaster is or they will shoot me. I did not say anything and they shoot me and hit me a gun butt,” he said. After, Sawh said he jumped into his car and drove to the Mon Repos Police Station where he alerted the police. Thomas was robbed of two gold chains. The gunmen escaped before the police arrived on the scene. Snr Supt Dawson Victor is spearheading investigations.