Less than 24 hours after a police mobile unit was set up in La Romaine following the shocking murder of nine-year-old schoolboy Cyon Paul, another man has been shot dead.
Construction worker Adrian Brown, 29, had an altercation with a man outside Turning Peak Restaurant and Bar at La Plaisance Road around 1.15 am yesterday, police said. A third man intervened, struck Brown on the head with a gun butt, then shot him in the chest.
Brown was pronounced dead on arrival to the San Fernando General Hospital.
Just over a week ago along the Southern Main Road near Byron Street—a few streets away from where Brown was murdered—Paul died after he was struck by a stray bullet. There have been no arrest in either murder so far, but police investigators say they are following up on several leads
Brown’s home at Betsy Street yesterday afternoon, his nine-year-old son was sitting on his mother’s lap in the gallery crying. She had just told that his father was dead, said Brown’s aunt Yolanda Olivere.
Olivere, 69, believes the police post was not enough to deal with the crime situation in the area.
“Crime is out of hand. As a child growing up in la Romaine we used to walk the streets without fear. You cannot any longer. People are scared.
“It (the post) is serving its purpose but we got to do much better,” she said
Olivere said the last time she saw Brown alive was when he left home on Friday for work.
“He did not come back which was not like him. He normally comes back early.”
Olivere said about 4 am two men came to the house and told her that Brown had been shot and they heading to the hospital. When she got there with other relatives, a doctor told her he had no pulse and their attempts to resuscitate him had been unsuccessful.
She said Brown belonged to the Baptist faith and was involved in the church.
La Romaine Police Post
The La Romaine Police Post will be located at the service station near Potato Trace at nights and near La Plaisance Road during the day.
Officers stationed there will receive reports and immediately dispatch the information to the San Fernando CID and Charge Room. They will also have support from the Task Force which has initiated two 24-hour patrols in designated areas in La Romaine under the supervision of ASP operation ASP Ramdeo and Insp Don Gajadar.
Instructions to set up the post were given by Ag Police Commissioner Harold Phillip following consultation with Snr Supt Adeline St Louis-Pesnell.
There has been several shooting incidents in La Romaine, including an estimated four murders for the year so far.