(Trinidad Express) The 2013 murder toll, after 279 days, now stands at 300—12 fewer than the corresponding period last year.
The inauspicious figure was attained with the shooting death of Winston “Buju” Callender at Nelson Street, Port of Spain, yesterday morning.
According to police reports, Callender, of no fixed place of abode, was killed in a shoot-out with four men around 10 a.m. There were no eye witnesses, police said.
Callender was approached by the men and was fired upon. He returned fire, but was shot twice in the upper body.
He died on the scene near the St Barb’s taxi stand, close to the corner of Prince Street.
At least 16 spent shells were recovered.
Police said Callender’s parents arrived on the scene, viewed his body and left.
A few hours after the killing, officers of the Inter Agency Task Force searched the George Street and Nelson Street apartments, but left empty-handed.
Callender was the second person to be killed over the weekend.
On Friday night, Jerome “Patty” Alfonso was shot dead near his Malabar, Arima, home.
Police said around 10.30 p.m., the 35-year-old was at the corner of Lengua and Joseph Streets in Malabar, when two men walked up to him and opened fire.
Alfonso was hit eight times and died minutes later on the side of the road.
He was the fourth person to be killed in the area in as many days.
In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson said police have since arrested several people in relation to the Malabar killings.
He added that the officers have begun taking a “blanket approach” to all illegal activities in the area, with the use of the Air Guard, Regiment, officers of the National Security Operations Centre (NSOC) and police.
He said the police are doing all they can to keep serious crimes, which include murders, to a minimum, but called on the public to assist.
In an unrelated case, police have yet to identity a man found between Buildings 58 and 60 at Nelson Street, Port of Spain, on October 2, when residents heard gunshots around 11.30 p.m. and discovered the lifeless body on the ground.
Officers of Besson Street Police Station and Port of Spain Criminal Investigation Department arrived on the scene, but no one was able to identify the body.
Reports are that the man is from the Beetham Gardens area. No description of the man has been given.
Investigations are continuing by officers of the Homicide Bureau.
