A gunman sprayed bullets into a crowd of limers at a birthday party in Carapichaima on Saturday night, killing a father of two and wounding three other people, including a Form Three student.
Kendall “Kit” Boyce, 32, was shot multiple times and was pronounced dead on arrival at the Couva Health Facility on Saturday night.
Another victim, Derron Richards is fighting for his life in the intensive care unit at the San Fernando General Hospital. Richards was shot twice in the abdomen and once in each leg. Andrew “Boyo” Anderson, 27, was shot once in each kneecap and in the left eye. He lost his eye as a result.
Anderson’s younger brother, Antonio, 16, was shot once in the left thigh. Antonio is a Form Three student at the Carapichaima West Secondary School.
According to reports, the four were part of a group celebrating the birthday of another of the Anderson brothers at a house along Wyaby Road, Carapichaima, around 9.45 pm on Saturday. Several partygoers were liming in the roadway and Boyce, Richards and others were sitting on the trunk of a parked car.
A silver AD wagon, registration PDG 48, drove into the street, turned and came back towards the crowd. The driver of the wagon passed the group, stopped and one of the back doors of the car opened. A gunman then leaned out and began spraying bullets into the crowd.
While many were able to scamper to safety, when the shooting stopped, Boyce, Richards and the elder Anderson were all found on the ground. Despite his injury, young Antonio was still standing.
The T&T Guardian visited the area yesterday and spoke to Boyce’s common-law wife, Nekeisha Jeremiah, who said her husband was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“He went out the road to get something and the next thing I heard is that he had got shot,” a distraught Jeremiah said. “He was a very hardworking person and never involved in any kind of crime with anyone.” She and Boyce have two daughters, ages six and four.
“Ask anyone, he lived for his two girls. He was a great father and a kind and loving person.” She said she knew of no reason why anyone would want to hurt him.
“He worked as an all-rounder, laying tiles, building things, everything really and he was well known in the area and always chatting with someone. I think it was just the wrong place, wrong time.”
At the Anderson home a short distance away, Annalisa Anderson said her family is confused as to why they were targeted.
“We don’t interfere with anyone. We still trying to figure out why someone would do this,” she said.
“It was a family lime with a few friends who just passed in. There were little children outside too and this person just shoot up the place with no regard for anybody.” She added, “This community is a very close one. Everyone gathers on the evenings to play cricket and football. We would never expect anything like this to happen and now all of that has to change.”
Her youngest brother, Antonio, who was treated at hospital and discharged, told the T&T Guardian of the heart-stopping moments before he was shot.
“I saw the car pass us and then stop and all of sudden gunshots just start to ring out,” he said.
“Everybody was screaming and trying to run.I felt something burning on my leg and realised I had been shot.”
Another eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous, said the shooter was wearing a black “Marvin Gaye” cap.
“From where I was standing, I saw the guy leaning out of the car and just spraying bullets. All I could hear was screaming and the ‘rup-rup-rup’ of a semi-automatic gun.”
Another of the Anderson brothers, Larry, called for police patrols in the area to be beefed up as he said he no longer feels safe in his home.
“We are fearful for our lives now. Anything could happen, anytime,” he said.
“If a man could do that and hurt so many people, what is stopping him from doing it again?”
The T&T Guardian tried contacting officers of the Freeport Police Station to confirm whether the weapon used was semi-automatic but was told no information could be given on the shooting. Calls to the office of Sen Sup Jason Ford also went unanswered.
Boyce was one of two men killed between Saturday night and yesterday morning, taking the 2016 murder toll to 218.