(Trinidad Guardian) Homicide investigators suspect three Point Fortin men were lured to their death in a well-known drug area in Penal on Sunday night.
David Crichlow, 35, of Honey Avenue, Warden Road; Maverick Marcano, 38, of Dam Road, Fanny Village and Anton Darryl Soodeen, 35, of Point Liguore all died inside the latter’s white sedan after they were shot repeatedly.
A report stated that around 8.05 pm, residents of Fazal Avenue, off the Penal Rock Road were jolted by a volley of gunshots ringing in their community.
They saw a car parked along the roadside with the bodies of three men all slumped in their seats and were motionless. The sound of the car’s horn was blaring as the driver fell facewards.
Penal police led by Snr Supt Deonarine Basdeo and detectives from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, Region Three, including Supt Winchester, ASP Persad and Insp Corrie responded and interviewed several residents.
The bodies of the three victims were taken to the Forensic Science Centre, in St James where they were identified by relatives yesterday.
So far, investigators believe that the men had gone to the area to purchase drugs. They suspect that the seller told the men to park along the roadside. It was then a single gunman, armed with an automatic firearm, sprayed the car with bullets.
Investigators said Crichlow, who worked at the Point Fortin Borough Corporation and Marcano, who recently served a prison term for wounding someone, was known to be involved in drug trafficking.
At their Point Liguore home on Monday, Soodeen’s uncle said that he worked as a PH taxi driver and would likely have been hired to take Marcano and Crichlow to Penal.
“This is how he lost his life,” the uncle said.
He said that Soodeen had few options besides his taxi job after losing one of his eyes in an accident. Since then, he has been working to continue building his modest wooden home near his sister’s house.
He said he last saw Soodeen plying his car for hire on Sunday and around 5 am yesterday, he got the call about the death.
“He is a PH driver, he takes jobs and they can call him and whatever time, he will take the job. That is how he made his living. My nephew never took drugs.”
Relatives at Crichlow’s home declined to comment on his death while no one was at Marcano’s home, when Guardian Media visited.
Up to yesterday, investigators did not have a suspect in custody.
In recent years, Fazal Avenue has become a place of violence.
In February 2018, Monica Gumbs, 55, was shot dead and her daughter Dana, who was 35 at the time, was injured when gunmen opened fire on them outside their home.
In July 2016, Gumbs’ daughter, Stacy, 30, survived being shot in the chest and shoulder while driving her car along Fazal Avenue. In 2015, Gumbs’ her 57-year-old husband Michael Matthews was shot to death in front of their home.
Months earlier, Gumbs’ nephew Roger Romain, 35, who lived next door was shot and killed.
