Anna-Lisa Paul
Senior Reporter
anna-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt
The murder toll rose to 71 yesterday following three separate shootings in Barataria, Carapichaima and Petit Valley between Friday and yesterday.
In the first incident, around 5.40 pm on March 7, residents reported hearing gunshots coming from the vicinity of the savannah and later found Nicholas Simmons, 25, of Seventh Avenue, Malick, bleeding from wounds to the head, neck, and body. As officers arrived at the scene, they realised Simmons was still alive, so they rushed the injured man to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where he was declared dead at 6:02 pm.
Officers from the Special Evidence Recovery Unit (SERU) recovered three 5.56 mm and two 9 mm spent shells at the scene. Reports indicate Simmons had been seated on a concrete bench on the western side of the Otis Whitley Recreational Grounds, liming and drinking beer with his girlfriend around 5.40 pm, when a silver Nissan Note stopped in the road, and two armed men exited and opened fire on him.
As Simmons began running, he was shot and fell a short distance away. As he lay on the ground bleeding and gasping, he was pursued by the two gunmen and shot several more times. The gunmen later fled in the waiting car. Police were up to yesterday trying to determine the motive behind Simmons’s killing.
Carapichaima murder
In the second killing, around 9.45 am yesterday, Ezekiel Davis of Orange Field Road, Carapichaima, was shot while liming in a bar close to his home. The 30-year-old man was reportedly confronted by two armed men who alighted from a silver Nissan Almera, armed with an AR-15 rifle and a pistol. It was claimed that Davis tried to fight off the man with the rifle, but the other gunman fired at him several times, killing him instantly.
Petit Valley killing
In the third shooting, just before 1 pm at Skeete Lane, off Simeon Road, Petit Valley–a father of 13 was shot multiple times as he stood on the road in front of his house. Sherwin “Billy” Mason, 51, was rushed to the St James Infirmary by a close male relative, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 1:02 pm. Eye-witnesses claimed Mason received a phone call whilst at his mother’s house, which is three doors down from his home, and he left immediately.
It was alleged that upon reaching his gateway, two men–one armed with a rifle and another with a pistol–ran out from a nearby yard and opened fire on Mason before fleeing on foot. As word spread that Mason had been killed, cries and wails filled the air yesterday as relatives arrived at the scene, holding and hugging each other tightly. One of Mason’s nieces described him as, “A good man in the community. He was a man who showed love in the community. He was a man people respected. He was a man for his family, and I think he didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Admitting the quiet of the community had been interrupted by the gunshots, she added, “The little playground has become a battlefield.” Revealing she had last spoken to Mason a few days ago, the woman, who asked that her name not be published, said, “To hear this ... it was really shocking. Everybody looked up to him.”
While many people peeped out from their homes yesterday, it was only a handful of residents–many of whom were Mason’s relatives–who gathered with lawmen as they watched forensic officers at work. Despite the glowing reference of Mason by his relatives, one man was overheard saying, “Thank God they got him this time.”
The man in question claimed Mason, who was described as a former community leader, had made life hard for several people.
