(Trinidad Express) Police believe they made some headway in a spate of shootings between rival gangs from John John and the Beetham Gardens.
This follows a series of shootings that began with a murder last Saturday, which led to the shootings of five other people on Monday night, followed by the shootings of eight other people on Thursday.
Officers made the claim when they encountered and stopped a gang from the Beetham Gardens who attempted to stage a reprisal attack on a Beverly Hills, John John gang yesterday afternoon, following the Thursday night shootings in the Beetham Gardens.
The first of the four attacks occurred on Saturday afternoon when gunmen drove through Beetham Gardens around 3.30 p.m. and shot 24-year-old Kevin Brown of Third Street, killing him on the spot.
A lance corporal, Che Markie-Jackman of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, who was standing near him at the time was also shot but remains in stable condition at the Port of Spain General Hospital.
For the shooting death of Kevin Brown however it was alleged that a gang from Beetham Gardens staged a reprisal attack at a basketball court along Plaisance Street, John John.
The shootings left 11-year-old Jubriel Worrell, his uncle Ian Worrell, 46, Gershwin Thomas, 29, Elton Regis, 52, and Samuel Oliver, 29, with severe injuries. They remain at the Port of Spain General Hospital in stable condition.
Police said at around 8.20 p.m., the five were standing along Plaisance Street near a basketball court when a silver Mitsubishi Lancer drove by and the occupants of the vehicle opened fire on the group.
Officers of the Besson Street Police Station, led by Insp Sahadeo Singh and including Cpls Sirju and Narine, together with members of the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) visited the scene and took all five victims to Port of Spain General Hospital where they were treated and kept.
The boy, a pupil of St Phillip’s Government Primary School, was subsequently transferred to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where he remains in stable condition.
On Thursday night, however, the bloodshed continued.
There were eight victims this time and while seven are from Beetham Gardens, one of them lives in St Joseph
Police said that around 9 p.m. they received information that a car entered Beetham Gardens from its south side (Beetham Highway) and slowly approached 25th Street. Two gunmen came out and opened fire on a group of people playing dominoes.
The Beetham Gardens victims were Kerwyn Reyes, 26; Kerry Roget, 40; Clint Clarke, 38; Debbie Joseph, 34; Natasha Lara, 30; Horace Sylvester, 62; Sophia Byer, 33; and Christopher Gabriel, 27, of St Joseph.
Officers of the Besson Street CID and Inter Agency Task Force rushed over to the scene and took all eight victims to the Port of Spain General Hospital where they were treated.
Around 2.15 p.m. yesterday however the violence continued.
A well-placed police source told the Express that around that time, he and a team of other officers were about to carry out a patrol in Beverly Hills, Laventille when they saw a Nissan Almera speeding through the area.
As officers attempted to intercept the car, one of its occupants leaned out and began firing at the police. Officers fired back following which the driver stopped the car and three men were seen running out. Officers ran after the men and detained one of them. Other officers however searched the car and found two 9-mm pistols and nine rounds of ammunition.
Besson Street CID officers are continuing investigations.
