An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

Rel­a­tives of mur­dered labour­er Mar­vin Phillip want a po­lice post to be set up in Gon­za­les, Bel­mont as they be­lieve this could help to re­duce the num­ber of gang-re­lat­ed killings by war­ring fac­tions.

Phillip, 33, was shot around 11.40 am on Feb­ru­ary 17, whilst at Wal­cott Lane, Belle Eau Road, Bel­mont.

Po­lice said the un­em­ployed man who lived at Vin­cent Brown Street, Gon­za­les, went to col­lect a Hilti Drill from a con­trac­tor as he was due to be­gin work short­ly and would have need­ed it.

Phillip was am­bushed by three gun­men in the vicin­i­ty of 1,000 Steps and shot mul­ti­ple times on Mon­day.

His rel­a­tives who spoke with re­porters at the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre, St James, yes­ter­day said the on­go­ing feud be­tween the Six and Sev­en gangs con­tin­ued to rob fam­i­lies of their loved ones.

De­clar­ing six and sev­en were “num­bers we learnt in school,” a fe­male rel­a­tive said a po­lice post at Choco­late Al­ley, Gon­za­les, would bring a much-need­ed sense of re­as­sur­ance for peo­ple liv­ing high­er up on the hill and for those low­er down.

The rel­a­tive ex­plained that the pres­ence of law­men might make a dif­fer­ence to the qual­i­ty of life many Bel­mont and Gon­za­les res­i­dents now lead.

“Sev­en on top of the hill and Sixx on the bot­tom, so you have to pass through the same area and that is where the dan­ger is.

“It not mak­ing sense be­ing in it.”

An­oth­er rel­a­tive said Phillip had been re­cov­er­ing from a gun­shot wound to the foot which he sus­tained four months ago, dur­ing an at­tempt on his life.

He, too, said Phillip, who “nev­er used to do any­body any­thing,” may sim­ply have been in the wrong place.

He claimed Phillip had been on the road lim­ing “when a car passed and they prob­a­bly saw him.”

The griev­ing man said al­though Phillip might have had a dis­agree­ment with some­one to­day, he was not one to hold a grudge.

“He had a re­al good heart,” he lament­ed.

He de­scribed the on­go­ing gang war­fare as, “Use­less, waste of time by a bunch of idle peo­ple.”

In­di­cat­ing res­i­dents were no longer able to wear cer­tain colours as this could be in­ter­pret­ed as them align­ing with a par­tic­u­lar side, the rel­a­tives sad­ly agreed leav­ing the area was not an op­tion even though they ac­knowl­edged, “This war won’t stop right now.”