After hijacking and murdering Point Fortin welder Jason Jade Alexander on Tuesday, gunmen continued on a night of terror when they used his car in a drive-by shooting, which claimed the life of Marabella market vendor Anton Farrow. Farrow’s friend, Joel Hannibal, 21, of Bayshore Avenue, Marabella, was also shot and remains warded in a serious condition after undergoing emergency surgery at the San Fernando General Hospital yesterday.
Up to late afternoon, Homicide Region Three investigators were awaiting autopsy results on Alexander and Farrow. Police believe Alexander was murdered for his car, which was not recovered. However, they were yet to determine a motive for the drive-by shooting.
Reports stated that Alexander, 27, of E Street, Fanny Village, was last seen alive by relatives around 5 pm when he went to ply his white Mazda 323 for hire. According to his brother-in-law Dwayne Pacheco, he accepted a job to transport some men despite initially refusing it.
It was only until 1 am yesterday morning when police came to their home that they knew he was murdered. Point Fortin police said they got a tip-off that a body was seen lying motionless at James Park, Egypt Village. When acting Sgt Jaggernath and other officers went to the pavilion’s carpark, they found Alexander dead with a gun shot wound to his left eye.
Speaking at their home yesterday, Pacheco said: “We don’t know who did this but they went with his phone and the car. “I believe it has to be somebody who knew him that did this because he said he was not taking any hired work. Jade was a person that if he said he was not taking a hired work, he would not take it at all.
“You had to be good with him for him to take a hired work so it had to be somebody close to him who did that.
“Jade works otherwise at Ansad contractors as a welder. He hustles a little money for gas to go to work. He was supposed to come back home 10 o’clock to pick up his brother who is staying at Techier Village.
“We called him and his phone kept going to voicemail right through. When I saw it was 12 o’clock, I thought to myself something was happening. “I said, ‘What is going on with Jade? How come Jade ain’t reach yet?’
“About one o’clock, that is when we got the news. Police came here and told us they found a body and they could not identify it.
“The police themselves knew Jade because of his tattoo ‘Jade’ on his hand. Jade was not on any kind of things. He was a favoured and popular person. Everybody knew Jade. I don’t know why they killed the boy.”
Drive-by shooting with stolen car.
Around the same time Alexander’s body was found, police said Farrow and Hannibal were liming at Bayshore Avenue, along the old Marabella train line when the same Mazda 323 pulled alongside them. Two gunmen exited the car and opened fire on them.
As they scampered for cover, both men were hit several times before the gunmen returned to the car and sped off. The injured men were taken to hospital by residents but Farrow, who lived with his aunt at Monty Street, Marabella, was pronounced dead on arrival.
Farrow’s mother, Annie Alexander, said she did not know why her son was killed. She said both him and Hannibal were good friends for a long time.
Describing Farrow as a good boy, she said that she has leukemia and last saw him on Monday when he promised to accompany her to the hospital to undergo medical scans.