Man, 50, murdered, maxi driver shot

A 50-year-old man was shot dead while a 58-year-old man remained warded in unsatisfactory condition up to late yesterday at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex after being shot in the face.

Neil “Big Neil” Lewis, 50, of La Pomp Extension, Trou Macaque, Laventille, and Arnold Payne, 58, of Acono Road, Maracas/St Joseph, were shot in separate incidents on Saturday night, police said. Lewis’ killing which pushed the murder toll to 41, has been described by the police as an execution in a suspected drug war, while a robbery motive is suspected in Payne’s shooting.

Police sources said Lewis, the alleged leader of a pickpocket gang, dyed his hair in different colours and wore lots of gold. He was in his white Nissan B13 Sentra vehicle at Nelson and Prince Streets around 10.45 pm Saturday when a lone gunman approached on the left side of the vehicle and fired several shots through the window. Lewis was found slumped behind the steering wheel. He was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Lewis was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital at 11.05 pm by Dr Derrick Holder. Officers under acting Insp Christopher Holder and including Cpls Williams and Jackson, acting Cpl Khan, and PCs Gregory Hood and Grant of the Port-of-Spain Division visited the scene and conducted interviews.

In the other shooting incident, police said Payne was driving his maxi taxi east along the Eastern Main Road near the Arouca Junction at around 10.20 pm. A man stopped the maxi taxi and another man approached from the opposite direction armed with a shotgun. The two ordered the four passengers in the maxi taxi to lie down and announced a hold-up. Payne tried to drive off but was shot in the face. The men escaped on foot along the Priority Bus Route (PBR).

Payne was taken to the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex, where he underwent emergency surgery. Acting Cpl Charles and PC Gangadeen of the Arouca CID visited the scene. No arrests had been made in either of the shootings up to late evening and investigations are continuing.