(Trinidad Guardian) Danielle Yearwood was almost nine months pregnant when she, her unborn son and the child’s father were murdered in Wallerfield on Monday afternoon.
Yearwood, 19, and husband Ricardo “Mamoo” Daloo left their home at La Plata Gardens, Valencia, earlier that day so she could undergo her final ultrasound when they were attacked by gunmen in Wallerfied around 4 pm.
When a news team from the T&T Guardian visited the couple’s home almost 24 hours after the incident, relatives were still trying to piece together what had transpired.
“The police were not helpful. They ran us when we wanted to see the bodies and did not give us any information. I needed to see because it still feels surreal,” Yearwood’s sister said as she explained she and other relatives only learned of the incident on social media.
She criticised the unnamed person who posted a grisly photo of the couple after they had been shot several times.
“Who does that? Don’t they care how the family feels?” she asked, as she also called on police to be more sensitive to victims’ families at crime scenes.
Yearwood’s relatives also questioned whether more could have been done by police to save the couple’s unborn baby, whom they had already planned to name Rishard Akim Daloo.
“She got shot in her head and the bodies were on the scene for three hours. We don’t know if they could have saved the baby if they had gotten rushed to hospital,” one of Yearwood’s male relatives said.
Yearwood’s family said she was excited for the baby to be born after she found out she was pregnant less than a year ago.
The relatives were clearly emotional as they spoke of Yearwood and the baby while still surrounded by decorations and gifts that were used for her recent baby shower.
“She already loved that baby. As soon as she found out she bought a set of water and fruits to eat healthy,” one relative said.
“Up to the night before she was painting the bedroom for when the baby born,” one sobbing relative added.
Yearwood’s relatives described her as kind and loving, as they said her passions included fashion and make-up.
“She was very kind. She gave a neighbour one of her dresses and did her make-up for her just go to her graduation,” Yearwood’s cousin said.
Yearwood had recently obtained her associate degree in human resource management and was planning on returning to her job at Pennywise Cosmetics after her baby was born.
“Our mom died when she was 13 and she started working in Pollo Tropical when she was 16. She always liked to work,” her sister said.
Daloo’s friends and relatives, who were also present, suggested that he was set up to be killed by someone he knew.
“It had to be a friend who called him. He (Daloo) was very paranoid. He would not just go up in that area with his wife and child just so,” the relatives, who asked to remain unidentified for fear of reprisals, said.
They also repeatedly described the persons who attacked the couple as evil.
“What kind of human being will kill a pregnant woman?” they asked.
According to reports, villagers of Brazil Road, Wallerfield, contacted police after they heard a volley of gunshots on Monday evening. When villagers checked outside they found a silver Nissan station wagon with the couple inside. The couple was pronounced dead on the scene by a District Medical Officer (DMO).
Police believe the couple was ambushed by a group of gunmen in a car as residents heard a vehicle speeding off towards the Churchill Roosevelt Highway shortly after the shooting. No one was arrested up to late yesterday.
Detectives of the Region Two Homicide Bureau are continuing investigations.
