Schoolboy killed

A 13-YEAR-OLD schoolboy was shot and killed by a gunman who opened fire on a group of teenagers as they walked along Boxhill Trace, Laventille, on Friday night.

Mikhaiel “Tookie” Alleyne, a student of Barataria Junior Secondary, left his home at about 9 pm after telling his mother, Patricia Olliver, he was going to buy a phone card.

A short distance away from his home, Mikhaiel and four friends were confronted by a man with a gun who began shooting at the group.

The teenagers tried to escape but one of the bullets struck Alleyne in the chest. He slumped to the ground in a pool of blood.

Mikhaiel was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. His death pushes the murder toll for the year to 124.

Officers of the Besson Street Police Station and the Homicide Bureau interviewed four eyewitnesses at the scene and are continuing investigations. Police sources told Sunday Newsday they have information that the killer may have been playing with a gun when it went off. A teenager was being sought yesterday in connection with the incident.

Yesterday, residents of Boxhill Trace were expressing shock and sadness at the teen’s murder.

His mother said she was at a loss for words and was hoping the incident was just a bad dream.

Olliver, a devout Spiritual Baptist, said the last time she saw her son alive was at about 8.55 pm, when he told her he was going to the shop to buy a phone card. Minutes later a neighbour brought the news that Mikhaiel had been shot and was being rushed to the hospital.

“I just could not believe it. I hurried to the hospital only to be told that my son had died,”she said.

Olliver said hospital officials allowed her to view her son’s body because she refused to believe he was dead.

She said Mikhaiel’s father, who lives and works in the United States, has been told of his son’s murder and is making plans to return home.

Olliver expressed the hope that her son’s killer would be arrested and brought to justice quickly. She also appealed to the authorities to do something about the crime situation before more innocent people are killed.

Friends and relatives of the murdered teen told Sunday Newsday he was a respectable young man who was playful and full of life.