T&T dad killed, sons wounded

(Trinidad Express) A father of five was shot dead and his two sons wounded when masked men entered their home and opened fire on Sunday night.

Boysie Ramroop, 59, was pronounced dead at Siparia Health Centre.

His sons, 33-year-old Sean and 28-year-old Sheldon, were last night listed in stable condition at San Fernando General Hospital.

Ramroop, a sub-contractor, was sitting in the living room with his sons and three grandchildren when the two men walked through an open front door around 8 p.m.

His wife, Namini, and youngest son, Shannon, were preparing dinner in the kitchen.

The family lives in a forested area, at Matthew Trace, off Dickie Trace, Palo Seco.

Son Sherwin Ramroop said: “I live just across the road. I was here up until 6.30 p.m. I heard explosions, but I thought it was firecrackers. I was inside my house when I heard my mother bawling. Then my youngest brother came running to the house shouting bandit. He ran away without the men seeing him. When I run across the road my father was lying in a pool of blood.”

Sherwin Ramroop, 27, said his father was shot in the abdomen. His brothers were shot in the leg.

“My mother said the men shoot my father first. Then they shoot my two brothers. Then they began shouting for drugs, money and jewelry. The men pushed my mother to the ground and made the three children lie down. My mother gave them $400. It was all she had. And before running away the men start shooting up the place, the ceiling, the Jesus picture, everything.”

Ramroop said he placed the wounded men in a car and headed to Siparia Health Centre.

“But my dad died there. My brothers both underwent surgery this morning. I don’t think this is a robbery…these people just come here to kill because they started shooting before asking a question. And we have a lot of valuable equipment here and they didn’t take anything,” he said.

Three children—aged eight, seven, and three—witnessed the shooting.

“They are in shock right now. They not talking and don’t want to hear about anything,” he said.

Ramroop said his father was robbed at his home last year, but the suspects were caught and appeared in court.

“And my father had an argument with someone over a piece of land, but I cannot say if it is linked. The people who came here have to know this area, because it is not easy to get in and out of here,” he said.

Ramroop said his father worked as a pipe fitter with several contractors in the oilfields, before starting his own business two years ago.

“Now all the boys who worked with him will be out of a job. I don’t know what will happen now. My father was the most peaceful man ever. He would give you anything he has.”

Ramroop said his mother was traumatised by the shooting. She was at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, where an autopsy was expected to be performed yesterday.

Crime scene investigators and homicide detectives visited the scene. No one was arrested up to last evening.