Three people, including two teenagers, were gunned down in separate incidents in South and Central Trinidad in less than 24 hours, with one murder taking place in front of a secondary school in broad daylight.
According to reports, around 12.15 pm yesterday, Nicholas Vesprey was driving his Nissan Almera along Railway Road, Couva, in front of the Couva East Secondary School.
Vesprey was ambushed by two gunmen who opened fire on the car, hitting him several times.
Vesprey, 40, of Bandoo Trace, Union Village, Claxton Bay, was taken to the Couva Health Facility by officers of the Couva Police Station who responded to the scene. He died while receiving treatment.
In the second incident, Akeem Phandorie, 19, had just left his mother’s Rio Claro home when he was killed.
According to reports, Phandorie was walking through the El Guanapo Housing Development in Rio Claro around 7.45 pm when gunshots rang out.
Phandorie, who lived at the nearby Mora Heights HDC development, was found lying in the middle of the road shortly after. His body bore six gunshot wounds.
Another man, Kareem Jarvis, of Ecclesville, Rio Claro, was also shot in the hand. Jarvis was reportedly at a nearby house repairing a water tank when the shots were fired.
Rio Claro Police yesterday said Phandorie had a matter pending at the Rio Claro Magistrates Court for a charge of a ‘sexual nature.’
The officers said although no motive has been established for Phandorie’s killing they believed his killer/s hid in one of the abandoned houses along the street and shot at him from there.
In the third incident, Jamilla Wilson, 18, was at her boyfriend’s Hercules Avenue, Egypt Village, Point Fortin, home around 7.45 pm on Thursday.
According to reports, two men ran into the yard and on seeing them, Wilson screamed and fled into the house.
In her haste to get away from the men, Wilson tripped and fell in the kitchen area. The men, who were following her, shot her multiple times about the body as she lay sprawled on the floor.
Her boyfriend was not at home at the time.
A female relative of Wilson’s boyfriend said Wilson was not known to the family as she had begun staying at their home about seven weeks ago.
The relative said Wilson was ‘hanging around’ in the weeks leading up to the Point Fortin Borough Day and moved in shortly after.
Speaking at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday: Wilson’s mother, Anastasia Wilson, said, “The last time me and her talk she was giving trouble; she didn’t want to listen so she left home. She was in Form 2 in Five Rivers Secondary because she start school late.”
Wilson added that her teenage daughter grew up in the United States and gave trouble there as well.
“She was involved in the normal teenage nonsense but it got so bad that I went to court because she was being too wayward. We were getting counselling from my job and from the Victim Support Unit of the police,” Wilson said.
Head of the Southern Division, Senior Supt Nazrool Hosein, said Wilson was originally from Pinto Road, Arima.
Up to news time, police had not established a motive for her murder.