Embacadere residents believe a gang war has broken out in their community following the shooting of a 13-year-old and his uncle and another man over the weekend.
Police believe the shooting of Gasparillo Secondary school boy, Isaiah Mason, and labourer Kerry Clarke, both of Embacadere, was linked to the shooting of Chervin Martinez at the basketball court at Embacadere on Saturday night.
It is believed that Martinez was shot by a 19-year-old man from the area, who is suspected of shooting at Embacadere taxi driver Aqeed Medford and an unidentified passenger in San Fernando that same night.
The same man is also suspected of setting fire to security guard Enrique Villafana’s apartment in Embacadere on Saturday.
In the latest incident, police said Mason and Clarke were walking along Padmore Street, San Fernando, around 7.20 pm, Sunday when they noticed a man walking towards them with a gun in one hand and a piece of iron in the other.
As they ran, the gunman fired several shots at the men, hitting Mason in his abdomen and Clarke in his right arm. The gunman ran off as the men fell to the ground bleeding. They were both taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where Mason was warded in a stable condition. A relative said Clarke was discharged yesterday but still had the bullet lodged in his arm.
The Guardian was told by residents that one of the men involved in the rash of shootings was linked to the failure of a man to return a rented gun.
“This is just the beginning,” a resident said.
Driver, passenger escape
Around 8.35 pm on Saturday, Medford, 32, of Embacadere, had just picked up a passenger along Mucurapo Street, San Fernando, in his blue Nissan Almera.
While he was driving along Irving Street, the driver of a white Nissan AD wagon almost collided with the back of his car. He told police that he pulled to the side to allow the wagon to pass, but instead it swerved in front of him and a passenger came out and began firing shots at his car. Medford sped off but crashed into a galvanise barrier along the adjacent Sutton Street.
Medford and the passenger got out of the car and ran. The driver went to the San Fernando Police Station but investigators said the unidentified passenger never made a report. Medford told police that he believed the gunman was after his passenger.
Two 9 mm shells were recovered from the scene and the car was wrecked to the San Fernando Police Station for processing.
Police believe that after the shooting, the same suspect went to Embacadere where he broke into the Building Five apartment of Villafana and set it ablaze.
Villafana said he left home around 9 pm to visit his girlfriend and 25 minutes later, someone called him and told him his apartment was on fire. Police and firefighters from the Southern Division Fire Headquarters in Mon Repos responded and extinguished the fire before it spread to other apartments.
“When I came home, one of my neighbours told me that some fella who lives up on the hill in Embacadere kicked down the door and lit the place on fire. The fella who I heard did this, I have nothing with him. I am a working fella so I don’t now what went on there.
“The apartment is very bad, everything gone, the two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, the whole place. It looked like he threw the clothes on the bed first and set it on fire in the back bedroom,” Villafana said.
While fleeing the arson attack, police believe the same suspect shot Martinez at the basketball court.
A report stated that Martinez, 27, a painter of Circle Drive, Embacadere, was liming at the court around 9.35 pm when he noticed the suspect walking towards him with a gun. As he tried to run away, the suspect opened fire on him, hitting him on both legs. As he fell to the ground, the suspect ran off. Martinez was underwent surgery at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday.
PC Khan and Cpl Nanan are continuing investigations.