Murder mars Mother’s Day

THE bloodshed in crime-ridden Laventille did not let up even on Mother’s Day yesterday, with a 23-year-old man being shot to death and a man who was shot a week ago, succumbing to his injuries at hospital yesterday.

In the first incident, around 10.30 am Garvin “Pussy” Jones, 23, died at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital without ever regaining consciousness. He was among three persons, including an 18-month-old baby girl, to be shot at a house in Laventille last Monday. Less than an hour after Jones was pronounced dead at hospital, Sean Clarke, 22, was gunned down while sitting at the side of Minchie Alley, Quarry Street, Laventille. No one has been arrested as yet in both slayings. Clarke, who lived at East Dry River, Port-of-Spain, was sitting on a culvert on Minchie Alley, Quarry Street when two men walked up to him, pulled out guns and opened fire, striking Clarke multiple times in the chest and stomach.

Clarke ran a short distance away before falling to the ground while the killers continued firing at him. After he fell, the gunmen ran off. Residents placed the badly bleeding man in a car. However, he died in the car just as it reached the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. A team of officers co-ordinated by Snr Supt Gilbert Reyes and Supt Errol Denoon, led by Sgt Creighton Hudson and including Sgt Stewart, Ag Sgt Nicholas Thomas, PCs Edgar Ransome, Charles and Browne visited the scene and carried out a futile search for the gunmen. When Newsday visited the scene yesterday, residents were reluctant to speak about the shooting.

However, Selwyn Gibbs, who lived near to where the shooting occurred, told Newsday that Clarke spoke to him briefly while he (Gibbs) was hanging some clothes to dry. “A few minutes after he left me, I heard a set of explosions and on checking, I saw Clarke lying on the road bleeding really badly,” Gibbs said. Police believe the motive for the shooting to be revenge, since they received information that Clarke was recently involved in a shooting incident. The other person to die yesterday — Garvin “Pussy” Jones — was shot in his chest last Monday at his home in Beverly Hills, Laventille. He succumbed to his injuries while in a coma at hospital.

Jones, his common-law wife Arlene Callender and 18-month-old Shanice Callender, were all shot at Shanice’s grandmother’s home in Beverly Hills, Laventille last Monday. When she spoke to Newsday last Wednesday, baby Shanice’s grandmother Eutrice Callender said while doctors had given Jones a 50-50 chance of surviving the shooting, she was praying and hoping for the best. Her prayers went unanswered. Autopsies will be carried out on Jones and Clarke today at the Forensic Sciences Centre. Cpl Reuben Alleyne and Sgt Creighton Hudson are investigating the Jones and Clarke slayings respectively.