Three more men have been killed between Monday night and yesterday morning including a 23-year-old man who relatives say might have been killed for assisting police with another killing.
In the most recent killing, Terrence Mendoza was walking along Alexander Street, near JC’s Mini-mart, Valencia, when a man approached him and fired at him around 12.10 am yesterday. Mendoza ran but was pursued and shot. The gunman ran off. Mendoza, 23, of Pineapple Drive New City, Valencia, was taken to the Sangre Grande District Hospital where he died while being treated around 1.50 am. Police said Mendoza complained that he was being threatened before his shooting.
Speaking with the media yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, Mendoza’s father Terry said that his son was being threatened because he reportedly told police about the murder of Junior Arkless, 34, who was found dead in his vehicle at Nicholas Trace off the Valencia Old Road, Valencia, by police on August 27. The senior Mendoza said since the killing his son was told that “you have to dead” and words to that effect because “word on the ground” was that he was assisting police.
“I would want the Almighty himself to come clean up the whole scene because honestly without God I can’t see how it will be done. No politician can change this, you know? This is just innocent lives being lost. It’s just God,” Mendoza said, when asked what message he would like the authorities to receive following the murder of his child.
Mendoza said that his son was a mechanic and was not involved in criminal activity. He described his child as “an innocent little youth” who was another victim of gun violence.
In another killing, police said a “community leader” who had criminal records for drug possession was gunned down near his home in a gang-related murder.
According to police, Sean “Drugs” Joseph, 42, was liming near his Mon Repos, Morvant, home at a bar named D Perfect Hideout around 9 pm on Monday night, when a gunman approached him and shot him before running off. Police said Joseph, a known drug offender, was killed because of his life of crime.
Earlier, Kadeem Blake, 28, a construction worker of Paradise Heights, Morvant, was at the Unipet gas station along the Eastern Main Road, opposite Fernandes compound, Laventille, when he was shot dead. Officers attached to the Morvant police said they received a call around 7.30 pm stating that gunshots were heard near the gas station. They found Blake’s body in front his Nissan B-15 car. No motive has been given for the shooting. His family did not want to speak with the media when approached at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday.
The three murders have taken the murder toll to 319 for the year, compared to 302 for the corresponding period last year.