Police believe the suspect who shot and killed Guyanese national Khemraj Persaud and injured another man has fled to Venezuela.
T&T Guardian was told that local police have sent out an advisory to the Venezuelan authorities to be on the lookout for the 51-year-old man who last resided at Duncan Village, San Fernando.
The suspect may have used his own boat to escape to Venezuela, police sources said.
The murder took place around 5.15 pm on Monday.
Persaud, 30, also known as “Leaf,” was renting a downstairs apartment with Sean Boodhoo, 28, and Kumar Shivprashad, at Hummingbird Avenue, Duncan Village, for over three years.
The construction worker was working in T&T for several years and sending money to help his impoverished family in Guyana.
According to a police report, the suspect went to visit another family member in the building. Reports stated that the suspect came downstairs and urinated on a washing machine used by Persaud and his friends.
Boodhoo told the suspect about it and they began to argue and fight. Persaud who was inside came out and intervened.
The suspect went to his car, took out a gun and opened fire, hitting both men.
Persaud was shot twice in the head while Boodhoo was shot in the chest.
He died on the spot while Boodhoo ran to the road and collapsed. Police took him to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and remains warded in a stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital. Detectives interviewed him yesterday at the hospital.
Shivprashad, also a Guyanese national, said a group of friends have been trying to raise funds to send Persaud’s back to his homeland. It is costing about $15,000.
“We trying to get assistance for the family to carry the body back to Guyana. Friends and business people trying to help. His family is not coming down here because it makes no sense that they waste that passage.”
He said Persaud came from an impoverished family, was an avid cricketer and well known.