Some 228 people have been murdered in the first six months of the year, according to Homicide Bureau of Investigations. This figure is 28 more than for the corresponding period last year.
The most recent victim was Anderson Gomez who was killed on Wednesday night moments after he got into a argument with a group of men over a roulette machine game.
Police said Gomez, of Maturita Extension, Arima, was killed after gunmen ambushed him around 10.30 pm in the car park of the Big Yard Recreation Club. He was shot several times by his attackers and collapsed and died at the scene.
Police said they knew of no motive for his shooting since he was not known to them. However, they believe it may be tied to an argument he had with some men over a roulette machine in the recreation club.
While the Homicide Bureau places the murder tally at 228, the media tally had the toll up to yesterday six short of the police figures.
In statistics compiled from media reports by the Powerful Ladies of T&T (PLOTT), of the 222 murders tallied by the media, Gomez was the 203rd male victim for the year. So far 19 women have been killed. Guns have been used in most of the murders, to the tune of 76.6 per cent, followed by knives and other sharp objects at 13 per cent.
Blunt force trauma, burning, strangulation and other factors, where no cause of death was determined but officials are sure death was not natural, account for 10.1 per cent of the other murders recorded. Port-of-Spain and Environs has seen a drastic reduction in murders while the Western Division saw an increase in the last month.
Killers have used the cover of darkness to pounce on their victims. Of the reported 222 murders, the majority have been committed at or around 10 pm. Time fluctuate between 10 pm and 2 am for the other killings.
Of the 222 killed, 82 were between the ages of 26-35, 55 were under 25, some 35 were in the 36-45 bracket and the remainder were either above 45 or there was no age given for the victim due to the inability of the police to do so.
With the reported 222 murders and 182 days passed for the year, there is an average of 1.22 murders each day and with 184 more days before the year ends, the murder toll, if left unabated, may climb to 446.48 with an actual body count rounding it off at 446.
In a telephone interview with the T&T Guardian on Wednesday, head of the Homicide Bureau, Snr Supt Zamsheed Mohammed, said his men have been doing much with very little.
He called for a DNA database which would help with he murder detection and increase it from 17.3 per cent to close to the 30 per cent minimum benchmark set out by acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams.