Mother of three shot dead in Chaguanas

A 27-year-old mother of three was shot dead while asleep at her Caroni Savannah Road home in Chaguanas, shortly after 11 pm on Saturday. Kimroy Austin, a checker with the Unemployment Relief Programme, was at her home with her three children and other relatives around 11 pm, when two men came asking for Don Heller, Austin’s common-law husband. She told the men that her husband was not at home and went back to her bedroom. Ten minutes later, the two men returned and fired several shots through the bedroom door. The bullets struck Austin on the left side of her breast. She died instantly. 

The victim’s eight-year-old daughter, Kyle Wells, found her mother’s body in the bedroom when she went to wake her to make a bottle of milk for her eight-month-old sister. Wells alerted her grandmother Margaret Sutherland, who called the Chaguanas police. A party of officers led by Insp Ashton Clarke, acting Sgt Ajith Persad and including acting Sgt Hayden Mckenzie, Cpl Hamid and Detectives Kirk Sheppard, Jacqueline Gustav and King went to the scene. District Medical Officer Dr Khatri also visited the scene. Officers recovered two spent shells from the scene of the shooting death.

The dead woman’s husband, Don Heller, arrived on the scene shortly after and was shocked and outraged over the killing. He was comforted by weeping relatives at the scene of the death. The body was viewed by Dr Khatri and ordered removed to the Port-of-Spain Mortuary. An autopsy today will determine the cause of death. The murder is the 170th for the year. When Newsday visited the scene, relatives of the  victim said they did not wish to be interviewed. They also requested that no pictures be taken. Acting Sgt Persad is investigating.