Drug pusher shot dead on Nelson street

A 31-year-old man was shot dead while walking along Nelson Street, Port-of-Spain, around 5 am yesterday. His murder is the 101th for the year so far and represents a 5.3 percent increase in murders compared with the same period last year. Reports revealed that Damien Thomas was returning from Harpe Place after visiting one of his girlfriends, when he was confronted by a lone gunman who fired several shots.

Thomas was struck in the chest by one of the bullets and he slumped to the ground and died. Thomas was known by the police as one of the drug pushers of Nelson Street. He was also involved in a gang. When Newsday visited Thomas’ Nelson Street apartment a relative said that Thomas was recently threatened by a man following a dispute over a woman. They believe that his killing was linked to that dispute over the woman at Harpe Place. They denied that his killing was drug-related.

The relative, who preferred to remain anonymous, and refused to be photographed said that Thomas was well loved at Nelson Street. He boasted that Thomas organised football clinics for the young men of Nelson Street. Sergeant Valentine Millette, Cpl Ferette and PC Brown of the Besson Street Police Station visited the scene and interviewed several persons. The killer was described as a slim built man wearing a mask. An autopsy will be carried out tomorrow.