URP foreman gunned down in Laventille

A URP foreman was yesterday gunned down while on his way to work. Scores of residents from Village Council Street, Laventille, gathered at the scene of the crime, as the bullet-riddled body of 50-year-old Steve Steadman lay in the front of a resident’s yard on Village Council Street, Laventille.

Reports state that Steadman was on his way to work when he was shot several times about the body. Three men are believed to have carried out the killing. According to investigating officers, at about 8.30 am yesterday, Steadman was walking along Village Council Street when three men came out of a black B14 Sentra car. One resident said, “That car park up on that road from early this morning. Like they was waiting for him from early. The men did not ask any questions, they just started shooting.” An average of 20 shots were fired, another resident said. “Even as Steadman slumped to the ground, they still fired shots. They made sure he was dead.”

The men escaped on foot a short distance away, as the car which they were driving crashed into a wall, as they attempted to make their escape. After the car was dusted for fingerprints, it was towed away by a wrecker. A trace done on the car revealed that it was stolen from a Princes Town resident, and at the time of the killing, had a false number plate on it. The only link made by officers into the shooting death of the URP foreman is that he was due to testify sometime soon in his son’s murder trial. Steadman’s son, 19-year-old Kareem Steadman, was gunned down in a similar manner in June last year. One man was held for his murder.

The mother of the country’s latest murder victim, Theresa Steadman, sat on a chair and looked on as police officers carried out their investigations at the murder scene. When questioned by members of the media, Theresa Steadman said it was hard having to deal with another death in the family so soon. “He ain’t no gangsta. But anyway, they killing witnesses now.” Other distraught relatives opted not to go to the scene of the crime. When Newsday visited Steadman’s home, his 22-year-old daughter Kemba Thomas said she agreed with the police officer’s link, that her father was killed because he was a witness to her brother’s death. “That was my grandmother’s only child. I don’t know how she going to make out now. She still trying to come to terms with how they kill my brother last year. Now this happen. He used to work hard with the URP. He was never in anything.”

Asked whether they expected the death, Thomas said “Well, it’s not like I expected it, but he did say he was getting threats. And when they had killed my brother last year, it was said that the men who killed my brother coming back for all witnesses.” A party of officers visited the scene, including Ag Insp Sgt Singh, Ag Insp Martinez, WPC Cpl Elizabeth Boland, Snr Sup Reyes and Sup Denoon. Ag Insp Martinez and WPC Cpl Boland are investigating the murder.