T&T couple shot dead in bed, cops kill suspects in gunfight

Cherisse and Marlon

(Trinidad Express) A MORVANT couple were shot dead as they slept in their bed early yesterday morning but by 1 p.m. that same day, the men suspected of killing them were themselves shot dead when they were confronted by the police.

The first incident occurred around 2.30 a.m.

Cherisse and Marlon
Cherisse and Marlon

The couple, Marlon Raymond, 22, and his girlfriend, Cherisse Charles, 20, were asleep yesterday morning at Raymond’s apartment located along Lady Young Avenue, Morvant when at 2.30 a.m. two men pounded down their door, walked into their bedroom and opened fire.

A relative of Raymond was asleep in her own apartment at the time was awakened by the gunshots but she said that she did not dare step outside.

Speaking to the Express yesterday afternoon, Hazel Raymond said around 4.30 a.m. when, “people began exercising,” she got up and walked over to her brother’s apartment.

She said that she entered the bedroom and saw the bodies of her brother and his girlfriend and immediately ran back out and hurried over to the Morvant Police Station located not very far from their home.

She complained that the police did not immediately render her assistance, adding that one officer told her to sit in the waiting room of the police station and “relax yourself.”

She said that she left the station and returned to the murder scene.

A team of officers eventually arrived and took statements from relatives of both Raymond and Charles.

Asked why would someone want her brother dead, Hazel said that she did not know.

“He was a very good person and it was them two (Marlon and Cherisse) used to protect me,” she said.

She explained that she needed “protection,” as she suffers with severe seizures and as a result she always needed someone around her in case she got another bout of seizures.

The bodies were eventually moved to the Port of Spain Mortuary and a post mortem is expected to be done at the Forensic Science Centre today.

Around 1.30 p.m. yesterday a team of officers from the North Eastern Division Task Force went to John Street off Pelican Extension, Morvant on enquiries relating to the murder of the couple.

They approached two men believed to be suspects. The two opened fire on the police. The police however fired back at them hitting them both about their bodies.

The two men, Michael Stapleton and another man known as Eddie Boone were taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival. When officers searched their house they found one Israeli-made Uzi, one .38 revolver, masks, gloves, and camouflage clothing.

Their bodies along with those of their alleged victims are expected to be examined today at the Forensic Science Centre.

In an unrelated incident, a man was gunned down yesterday afternoon at Mango Alley, Trou Macaque, Laventille bringing the year’s murder toll to 27.

He remained unidentified up to last night.

Police said that around 4.30 p.m. residents heard several gunshots and called the police.