Three construction workers remained warded in hospital last night after being attacked by gunmen at a construction site near the Besson Street Police Station in east Port-of-Spain.
According to reports around 2 pm, the men, ages 22, 23 and 24, were constructing a wall at the St Paul’s Recreation Ground opposite the Bethlehem Girls’ RC School, when they were ambushed by two gunmen.
Without warning the gunmen opened fire on the construction workers shooting them several times.
Police officers from the nearby station and those working at the Homicide Bureau’s office at Riverside Plaza responded within minutes but were unable to catch the gunmen who ran away through a track.
The men, who were not identified by police up to late yesterday, were taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
Two of the men were listed in critical condition, up to late yesterday, with their co-worker being warded in a serious condition. Police had not established a motive for the shooting, up to late yesterday, but believe that they may have been targeted by gang members in the area as they are from Laventille.
A security guard on duty at the school told Guardian Media he heard the gunshots but did not see gun attack.
The contractor, whose workers were targeted, was being interviewed by investigators. The contractor’s mother, who asked to remain unidentified, said that the shooting could have been prevented.
“We tired ask police for protection here because the site next to a war zone,” the woman said.
“If it was a big contractor their workers would have been surrounded by police. They does just tell us it not necessary because the station right there but look what happen today.”
The shooting is the second to occur near to Riverside Plaza and the newly constructed Besson Street Police Station in less than a month.