Teens’ ‘gangsta’ fight ends in death

A FIGHT between two teen-agers over who was more “gangsta” ended with one dead and the other in police custody. Dead is 16-year-old Dion Barclay, of Gould Street, Mayaro, who was fatally stabbed near a bar in Rio Claro. Police have detained a 17-year-old suspect from Rio Claro in connection with the incident. Barclay succumbed to five stab wounds at about 4.45 am yesterday at the Mayaro District Hospital. Police said he was stabbed in the back, chin, lower lip, right hand and right shoulder. The incident took place at about 3 am some 30 feet from the Purple Rain Bar where Dion was liming with his cousin. The suspect was also liming in the vicinity.

Investigators said the two began arguing inside the bar about which one was “badder” than the other one at school. Both were students of the Mayaro Composite School. The argument escalated into violence when the suspect pushed Barclay against a wall, pulled a knife out of his pocket and stabbed him about his body. The suspect then fled the scene. Investigators said patrons put Barclay into the trunk of a car and rushed him to the nearby Rio Claro Police Station. The police contacted an Emergency Health Services ambulance which took Barclay to the hospital. Barclay’s father, Anton, described his son as “humble.”

He said: “He just went liming with one of his cousins and he end up on that scene. He was never in trouble before.” At the teen’s Mayaro home, Barclay’s aunt, Emily told Sunday Newsday that although Barclay had dropped out of school almost five months ago, last week he told his mother that he wanted to return to school. Emily said she doubted that Barclay was the aggressor in the deadly fight. “He was hasty in a way that he did not stand for stupidness. He was not accustomed to Rio Claro so he would have laughed and walked away from a fight.” Visiting the scene yesterday was Sgt Stanley Ramdeen, WP Ag Cpl Gosyne, Ag Cpl Lawrence, PCs Sunil Ramoutar and Andy Nandhoo. PC Ramoutar is continuing investigations.