Trinidad: Arima man shot dead near home

Ashton Torres
Ashton Torres

(Trinidad Guardian) An Arima man was gunned down moments after leaving his home yesterday.

Ashton Torres, 32, was shot and killed in a car around 8.30 am.

His mother, 55-year-old Joseann Raymond, heard the shots that would claim the life of her son.

She came out of her home to find onlookers surrounding him.

She told police that he had left his Manhattan Drive home to run some errands.

She saw him enter a silver car outside the house.

Moments later she heard gunshots. Torres was found bleeding from a gunshot wound to the chest.

He was taken to the Arima Health Facility for emergency treatment but died shortly before 9.30 am.

Police had no confirmed motive for Torres’ murder.

While Torres had no criminal charges, he had been shot in his legs in Wallerfield last March, police said.

His murder took place just over two hours after Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith lauded the success of a two-day operation conducted by his officers as a part of Operation Strike Back.

The Commissioner had also commented the reduced number of homicides for the year so far, stating that there had been a 70 per cent reduction in murders in comparison to last year’s figures.

Last year, 26 murders had been recorded in the first 12 days of the year. Torres was the 12th recorded murder for the year.