Yesterday morning, when most people were either at work or on their way, two gunmen in Laventille took the opportunity to murder an unarmed, mentally challenged man in front his mother.
According to Supt Shakib Mohammed of the Port-of-Spain Division, Mosi Porter, of Pleasant Terrace, John John, Laventille, was waiting on transport to Port-of-Spain less than 100 metres from their home when Porter was attacked. Mohammed said around 9 am two gunmen with bandanas on their faces walked up to mother and son and shot Porter, 23, and ran off.
Police say Porter may have been killed because he assisted his mother by selling in Port-of-Spain, which is considered Rasta City territory, a rival gang to the “Muslim Gang”. Porter’s killing has taken the murdered toll to 351 for the year. Mohammed added that the gunmen timed their attack as there was an increased police presence in the area following a shooting on Tuesday when a man was shot in the mouth.
Speaking with the media opposite her home yesterday, Munroe said she had two choices concerning her mentally challenged son, leave him on the streets in Port-of-Spain or take him home. A simple decision for most but a fatal one for the mother of four. Porter, she said, used to sleep on the Brian Lara Promenade after fleeing his Point Fortin home.
He was forced to sleep there after gunmen chased him out the area last year. Not wanting to return to his South home, Porter wandered the capital. Munroe said she could not leave her son “looking like a vagrant” so she brought him back home but monitored his every move, thinking that no gunman will attack him as long as she was around.
Munroe said she begged the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to relocate her following her son’s near death experience last year but had been told that the matter was being addressed. She added that since moving to the area she lost touch with her children who refused to visit her at her new home.