(Trinidad Express) The rarity of an empty street in normally bustling St James yesterday presented a killer with the opportunity to fatally shoot a 52-year-old businessman in broad daylight.
Witnesses said an unmasked gunman walked up to Godfrey Lamont as he was alighting from a car on Calcutta Street around 12.15 p.m. and shot him several times in the face.
He is said to have died instantly.
Lamont, an insurance broker, of Savannah Villas, Aranjuez, was outside his businessplace, Sterling Financial Centre, when he was shot.
A source close to the family said he had been driven there by a relative in her red Toyota Yaris but the businessman usually drives a Mercedes Benz.
The source said the family understands that the killing was a “hit” and that the killer was waiting for Lamont.
After shooting Lamont, the killer ran to a waiting vehicle, a dark-coloured sedan, and escaped along Patna Street.
The female relative accompanying Lamont was unharmed.
A number of people who work in the vicinity said the street is hardly ever “that empty”, as people and traffic usually come in a constant stream to and from the nearby Long Circular Mall.
“Strangely, there was nobody outside. The street was empty,” said one employee at a nearby business.
The employee said the shots were fired “one after the other” and a few people thought they heard a woman screaming.
“We looked out the window but by that time the killer had apparently escaped,” the employee said.
“The car door was open but we couldn’t really see anybody.”
Part of Calcutta Street was cordoned off by police for almost three hours yesterday, causing mild traffic as passers-by gathered and motorists slowed to watch.
Lamont’s body, which was on the pavement near the car, was removed around 3 p.m.
He would have celebrated his 53rd birthday this Saturday and has been in the insurance business for over 30 years, another relative said yesterday.
Lamont was the father of a 20-year-old son, who only recently enrolled at Morgan State University in Washington, DC, in the United States.
The son was said to have received counselling at the school yesterday, upon hearing the news of his father’s death. The pair had spent the day together before the son left for university in late December.
The relative said she last spoke to Lamont about two weeks ago and he was “normal, laughing and making jokes”.
A male relative, who was on the scene yesterday afternoon but did not wish to be named, said the family had no idea why someone would want Lamont dead.
One police officer said they were yet to uncover a motive for the murder.
In 2003, Lamont had a run-in with the law when he was charged with attempted fraud.
He appeared in court, along with three others, charged with attempting to cash a bogus cheque for $317,000 at Republic Bank in 2002.
Lamont and the others appeared before Magistrate Ejenny Espinet in the Port of Spain First Magistrate’s Court and each was allowed bail in the sum of $100,000.
His killing has taken the murder toll to 25, according to an Express tally.
