T&T man killed at wake for murdered mom

(Trinidad Express) Less than two days after his mother was shot and killed at her Kelly Village home, 30-year-old Jason Nero was  shot dead on Sunday night by unknown assailants while attending her wake.

According to police reports, on Sunday night, Nero, who was said to be employed at KFC Piarco, was at his La Solita Road, Kelly Village, Caroni, home where the wake for his deceased mother, Patricia Spinx, was taking place.

Spinx, 52, was shot and killed at the same house on Friday night.

At about 9.20 p.m. on Sunday just as the wake had ended, Nero was called out to the roadway by a man on a bicycle.

While proceeding to the front of the house, a burgundy-coloured vehicle pulled up next to the 30-year-old man, and the left front window of the car was lowered.

The occupant then open fire on Nero hitting him multiple times about his body. He died immediately.

Patricia Spinx
Patricia Spinx

His assailants then fled the scene in the vehicle they came in.

The police were notified and a party of officers from the Central Division and Homicide Bureau of Investigations, including Senior Supt Johnny Abraham, Inspector Teesdale, Sgt Jitindra Toolaram, Sgt Jordan, WPC Funrose and WPC Hepburn, among others, responded.

Crime Scene Investigators officially processed the scene and district medical officer Dr Ramlogan  pronounced Nero dead, and ordered his body’s removal to the Forensic Science Centre in St James.

At the Centre yesterday, Nero’s brother Vaughn, said while his sibling was no “Mother Teresa” he did not deserve to be killed in such a manner.

However, he hoped that if anything positive could come out of his brother’s death,  would be criminals will learn, “if you live by the gun, you will die by the gun”.

“He was my younger brother and generally speaking he was quite nice you know. He took care of his two kids, he did little house limes and things like that and was always there for people he cared about. But while he wasn’t a hard-core criminal, he had a fascination with this kind of life. But he wasn’t any ‘Mother Teresa’ either. The friends he kept were not friends to keep. As the old people would say, ‘friends would carry you but they won’t bring you back.’

“You live one way, you will go out that way. It is unfortunate he had to meet such an end though, it is unfortunate it happened like this and I hope people take note. If you live your life in crime or twist your life around crime, it can end like this. You live by a gun, you will die by a gun,” Vaughn said.

Speaking to reporters following the autopsy of Patricia Spinx, Pastor Carol Castle said  the 52-year-old woman was a “kind and loving soul” undeserving of the fate that had befallen her.

“She was always a quiet and humble person, and the backbone of her family and was always there for them, despite the fact that she could not see. She loved her children and her grandchildren, and she was a regular attendee at church. She will be greatly missed. To the people who did this, for whatever reasons, all I can say is that yes things do happen, but nothing goes unsolved really, because God sees all, and she was a God-fearing person, and what goes around always comes around,” Castle said.

Nero, sources said, was shot a total of 20 times about his body. A total of 28 spent shells were said to have been recovered at the scene.

Spinx was shot twice about her body.

The two killings are linked, sources said, and prior to his killing, Nero was wanted for questioning by investigating officers.