Trini deaf/mute shot dead in Brooklyn

A 25-year-old Trinidadian who was planning to visit the graveside of his father shot dead in Laventille on January 3, was gunned down in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday as he waited for a bus to take him home after basketball practice.

Kevin Lazare, who was unable to hear or speak since birth, was shot three times in the back near a B15 bus shelter at the corner of Rockaway and Hegeman Avenues in Brownsville. His killers left behind US $10 in Lazare’s pocket as they fled the scene. Lazare was rushed to the Brookdale Hospital Centre in Brooklyn where he died hours later, New York Police reported. On January 3, Lazare’s father Samuel King, 53, a mason, was also shot three times after buying dinner mints near his home at Mulrain Road, Laventille. King was caught in the middle of a robbery when he was shot dead.

Lazare had been living with his mother Kathleen for a number of years after migrating from Trinidad. After learning of his father’s death through robbery, Lazare was planning a trip to Trinidad to visit the graveside. His mother Kathleen was the one who broke the news to him. She was interested in Lazare coming to Trinidad. “He wasn’t too keen on going,” she told reporters in New York. Mrs Lazare said she started to make arrangements for Kevin and his brother to come to Trinidad, but because of the hectic Carnival season and the unavailability of flights, the trip was pushed back to March. Around this time and in the coming weeks, flights out of New York are full.

Lazare played basketball at a nearby recreational centre, a police athletic league facility, for several hours before he left to catch the bus home. Kenneth Mano, Lazare’s stepfather said he had given his stepson $10 for bus fare to get to and from the recreation centre. Unable to hear or speak, Lazare’s back was turned to a couple of bandits who approached him. One eyewitness who spoke to Newsday from Brooklyn yesterday, said the men announced a hold-up. Lazare kept his back turned and walked off. The witness said Lazare was then shot three times in the back. “It was only after the boy get shot, it was only then I realised that he was deaf. If only he could have heard, he may be alive today.” But police said they have ruled out robbery because they found “a few dollars in Lazare’s pocket.” The eyewitness asked, ‘why was he shot? I am sure it had nothing to do with his father’s death in Trinidad. It had to be robbery....it was unfortunate that Kevin could not hear otherwise he would have responded to the armed hold-up.’

Lazare was an ex-pupil of the Cascade School for the Deaf before he migrated to the US. Yesterday, the TT Association for the hearing Impaired expressed its disgust with regard ‘to the senseless and brutal attacks in recent times on the hearing impaired both at home and abroad.’ Lazare graduated from the George Westinghouse High School in Brooklyn. His stepfather operates a construction business and his mother a tailor shop. It was not the first time that Lazare faced death. Four years ago, Lazare was liming with two friends when they found themselves in the middle of a shootout. Lazare was shot on the instep. He was taken to hospital and later released from receiving attention.