Denise Martin was fighting for her life at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital last night after she and her boyfriend, Shamshudeen Mohammed, were shot by gunmen at their Fyzabad home on Wednesday night.
Police said Martin, 28, of Otaheite, South Oropouche, and Mohammed, 31, were sitting in the porch of Mohammed’s home at Standard Road, Fyzabad, around 2 am, when two men jumped over the fence.
One of the men locked Mohammed’s neck and a struggle ensued, following which five shots were fired. Three of the bullets hit Mohammed in his right leg, while Martin, who was sitting in a hammock nearby, was shot in the head and chest.
Mohammed underwent emergency surgery on his leg yesterday and was listed in a stable condition. However, Martin was said to be critical, having suffered damage to her lungs and brain.
In an interview yesterday, Mohammed’s stepfather, Rambarran Ramjattan, said he was sleeping inside when his wife, Corisha Mohammed, ran inside screaming: “They kill Denise.”
“When I got up Denise was lying down in the hammock and her face was bloody. She was not moving. I thought she was dead,” Ramjattan recalled.
Saying he was unsure whether the assailants were targeting the couple, who ran Flambeau’s Bar at Fyzabad, Ramjattan said last Friday Mohammed gave up the bar because the owner wanted to increase the rent.
“He packed up all the stuff he had in the bar and brought it home. She used to be in the bar with him. I don’t know if the people were targeting them because they are businesspeople or if they had another motive. I don’t know,” Ramjattan said.
He said his son, Zakir Mohammed, was also asleep inside when the shooting occurred. He also said recently thieves broke into his house and stole wares and tools. The day before, someone also poisoned his dog.
Ramjattan called on the T&T Electricity Commission to fix a broken streetlight outside his house which he said provided security to his family.
Meanwhile, a source who requested anonymity, said two strangers were spotted walking alongside a fence prior to the shooting. It is believed that the suspects hid in a box drain when the police arrived. No one was arrested but a spent shell was retrieved from a gravel heap close to the house.
Residents from Standard Road said yesterday there had been a spike in robberies over the past few weeks.
“Illegal immigrants and deportees have been living in a house in the area. They paying just $300 a month and we think they are staking out businesspeople in this area,” a source said.
Some of the residents called on the police to boost patrols in the area.
Anyone with information on the shooting can contact CrimeStoppers at 800-TIPS. Fyzabad police are continuing investigations.