Police retrieve 15 shells at scene

A 21-year-old Block 22, Eastern Quarry, man was killed yesterday  after he received multiple gunshot wounds in one of two shooting incidents in the Laventille district.

Police said while the man lay battling for his life at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital (PoSGH), he gave his name as Ken John, aka Bouncer and Lil Pop. According to police reports, at around midday yesterday John and about eight other people were standing by a standpipe at McShine Lands, which is off 42nd Street, Laventille Extension Road. A group of six armed men came from a track in the opposite direction and fired approximately 20 shots at John, who ran a short distance and collapsed. The people with him scampered for safety, while the gunmen also fled. John was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital by someone in a moss green car, who dropped him off at the Casualty Department and then disappeared. John died at around 3.20 pm while undergoing emergency surgery.  

Officers headed by Insp Manechand Ramnarine and including Sgt Ganpath Meetoo, Cpl Nicky St Aude and PCS Sookdeo, Boney, Williams, Phillip, Charles, Khan-Mohammed and Ganesh visited the scene and conducted investigations. They found 15 spent shells and said most of them were pumped into John’s body. A post mortem is expected to be performed on him today. Police could give no motive for John’s killing but are working on the theory that it was gang-related.  Lawmen said John was “very well known” to them and his name figured in the recent double murder in Gonzales where PH driver Keith Barrow and Ria Blackman were found dead in a vehicle in the wee hours of March 31 at Brisby Street. Both Barrow and Blackman were shot to death in what was believed to also be gang-related violence.  John, according to police was also wanted for several robberies, shootings and a number of petty offences. Police had little help with their investigations from residents in the area, most of whom ducked questions and claimed they did not know John. House owner Cleo Johnson told Newsday she was inside her home when she heard the gunshots. “I ain’t see nothing,” the woman said.

In the other shooting incident, at around 12.15 pm, Nicholas O’Brien, 18, of Quarry Street, was at St John’s Road, Laventille, when a lone gunman walked up to him and shot him in his back.  The bullet exited through the stomach. O’Brien was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he was said to be in stable condition at Ward 22. His shooting is also said to be gang-related. Police don’t believe the two shootings are related. No arrests had been made up to late yesterday and officers of the Besson Street CID under Insp Ramnarine are continuing investigations.