For living on the wrong side of the road, a Laventille teenager was shot dead in the ongoing gang warfare between the Muslim and Rasta City factions.
According to relatives, Raheem Martin, 17, was attacked by gunmen just because he lived on the “Muslim” side of the divide.
Relatives who spoke with the media yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, said the teen was on his way to his girlfriend’s house around 4 pm on Sunday when he was ambushed and killed. His killers, they said, were from just across the street on the Rasta City side of Plaisance Terrace, Laventille.
Residents told police they heard gunshots and later found the teen dead. Police said as far as they were aware, Martin was not involved in any criminal activity. Police believed the gunmen opened fire indiscriminately and Martin was killed in the gunplay.
Martin’s mother, Shirley-Ann Martin, blames the police for her son’s death.
The mother of five said the police officers who were stationed in the area left without being relieved by other officers and during that unguarded moment, the gunmen struck.
“Yes I blame the police because they leave their post unmanned and people dying as a result. If you have people who assigned to a post, then why you not staying there until someone come and relieve you?
“This is the second time that they leave and they shoot at someone. Saturday and Sunday they leave their post unmanned and we had shootings,” Martin said.
In response, head of the Port-of-Spain Division, Snr Supt Johnny Abraham, said the report was a serious one and he intended to investigate it.
Martin recalled a time when the area where she grew up was peaceful and lamented at the state it had reached where residents could not walk freely.
Another relative said someone had threatened residents, saying he had a rifle and a scope and warned people not to walk in open areas. Asked for a solution to the killings in the area Martin said to gather all the thugs and let them loose in an area for them to kill each other, while the innocent are allowed to roam free.
“That’s the only way it will end because look at my 17-year-old what he do them? It’s only black people children getting killed. I had to take my child out of school because he was going Morvant/Laventille and at the time they was warring John John.
“About three weeks ago my other son, Malick, was stabbed in the head while in town for the same thing. My children can’t go nowhere, they can’t go in town and they can’t stay home,” Martin said.
She added that she had been awaiting relocation from the area for over ten years but have not been successful in her attempts.
The murder toll now stands at 388 for the year, eight more than the corresponding period last year.