A 22-year-old Arima man was killed and his 16-year-old brother wounded as they attempted to protect their father from an armed intruder on Monday night.
According to reports, around 9.30 pm Dominique Koon Koon and his younger brother were liming in the porch of their home at Koon Koon Street, Malabar, Arima, when a stranger came to the front gate and called out to their father.
They went inside to tell their father, who was in the bathroom, and when they returned to tell the man to come back in the morning, he had already jumped over the front gate.
The gunman forced the brothers inside and robbed them and two other relatives of their cellphones and cash.
When their father came out of the bathroom he was confronted by the man, who began attacking him with the butt of the gun.
Koon Koon intervened and was shot twice in the chest as he attempted to disarm the gunman.
Koon Koon’s brother was grazed by a bullet, but still managed to grab a baseball bat and attack the intruder.
During the melee, the gunman dropped his weapon and ran away.
Koon Koon was pronounced dead on the scene by a District Medical Officer (DMO) while his brother was taken to the Arima Health Facility where he was treated and discharged.
Police searched the community for the suspect but only found three live rounds of ammunition which were discarded along the track through which he ran.
Investigators alerted hospitals and health centres as the suspect is believed to have suffered serious injuries during the scuffle.
They said an arrest is imminent.
Homicide detectives believe that from the circumstances of the attack, it was a botched hit on Koon Koon’s father.Koon Koon’s murder raised the murder toll for the year to 32.