(Trinidad Guardian) Police believe contracts that were either stopped or were about to be stopped, thanks to the intervention of senior Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) executive Derek Hooker, may be the reason he was shot dead outside his Diego Martin home on Monday night.
According to police, around 6.30 pm Monday Hooker had just pulled into his yard when he was approached by a gunman.
Police said as he was walking into his home the man shot him in the face twice and left. He was taken to the St James Medical Centre and then transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he died around 9.30 pm.
Officers close to the investigation said Hooker was opposing the awarding of contracts and may have angered criminal elements who were benefiting from them.
They said the contracts were equivalent to “ghost gangs” within the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP), where “workers” were paid and no work done.
Hooker, who was described by his relatives at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, on Tuesday as a God-fearing, helpful man who lived for the church and helping others will be buried today.
The 54-year-old senior manager of operations (North West), who was employed at WASA for 32 years, will be eulogised at the Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Cipriani Boulevard, Port-of-Spain, today at 10 am.
