Shiva Boys Hindu College footballer Noah Simmons had planned to spend his birthday at the Marabella Family Crisis Centre, where he and the forgotten youths of the old train line community sought refuge from crime and the hardship of poverty.
But with an upsurge of guns in the hands of youths in the slums of Union Park East, Marabella, he did not get to celebrate his 16th birthday as he was allegedly shot dead by a friend.
For Simmons’ family, however, it was deja vu, as his uncle Damian Simmons was also gunned down on his birthday in January 2017. Simmons’ 17-year-old brother was also shot in the shin on his birthday last October.
Standing at the scene of his brother’s murder, Simmons’ surviving brother, whose name is being withheld for his safety, told the T&T Guardian the same friend who shot Simmons also shot him for no reason. Still rattled by the trauma of that event, the teen said his brother’s killer boasted to him of taking a life.
“He (killer) walked up by my house and fired shots in the air and when I ran outside, he came up and told me that he just shot my brother. I ran down here and saw my brother stretched out on the step, dead,” the teen said.
Police said around 8 am, Simmons was sitting at the front of his cousin’s home when the suspect came up to him. It is believed that old talk turned into an argument and the suspect shot him in the right side of his chest and walked off. As the suspect walked away, he fired a few more shots in the air. Investigators were told Simmons had been holding the gun mere seconds before he was killed with it.
Last December, Simmons’ cousin, Isaiah Simmons, 15, was killed in a shootout with police after he and two others robbed a house in the area. During that shootout, PC Anand Ram was also shot.
Simmons’ grandmother Lystra Simmons told the T&T Guardian that he woke up around 6 am and went to his cousin’s home next door to have breakfast. After eating, Lystra said he sat at the front door and the suspect came and started a casual conversation.
Lystra was at home when gunshots rang out but didn’t think her grandson had been killed. Like many of the concerned residents in the community, she said there had been an increase of “trigger happy” young men with guns, who would walk along the road firing shots in the air.
Simmons also played football with the Marabella Family Crisis Centre and was expected to spend some time there with his friends. CEO Terrence Bossiere said they had planned a surprise, but while waiting for Simmons he got a text message saying the teen had been killed.
“Noah lived between here and his grandmother’s home. Youths in the community, like everywhere else, need that guidance and there are those who listen and come to our empowerment programme, which we use as a vehicle against drugs and social ills,” Bossier said.
A member said the centre served as a refuge for several youths of the area, as they would be fed and given a place to sleep whenever they needed. Saying the youth were interested in living good and honest lives, the members said it was a constant battle to keep them away from guns, drugs and the thugs in the area.
Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee said he met Simmons while campaigning in 2015 and was saddened another life was lost to gun violence.
Lee said: “After I became MP I would always see him and kept talking to him to stay focused on his dream of becoming a successful footballer. I was happy when he was transferred to Shiva Boys’ College to play football for that school.
“Whatever was the circumstances of his killing I am sad, as another young life has been lost to the gunman! Where are we going as a society? I am at a lost for words.”
Police have identified the suspect but said they have also been searching for him for weeks in relation to other gun offences. But residents said the suspect lives in Ste Madeleine and frequents their area because he has a girlfriend there. However, they said his life took a turn for the worse in 2009 when his mother, a state witness, was abducted while leaving a San Fernando nightclub and murdered. She had been under police protection at a safe house in Tobago but left on a flight to Trinidad to attend a party.