Trinidad cop among 2 killed in Chinatown
(Trinidad Guardian) An off-duty police officer and a vegetable vendor were killed last on Saturday night along Lower Charlotte Street, Portof-Spain, after a gunman opened fire on a Beetham man who managed to escape with minor injuries.
The incident which occurred around 7 pm resulted in scared vendors and shoppers fleeing the scene in Chinatown.
Sgt Roger Williams of the Court & Process Branch, Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court died at hospital minutes after the shooting, while Natoya Christian collapsed on the pavement and died metres away from the stall she operated with her grandmother.
Williams lived at Serraneau Road, Belmont.
Overcome with grief last night, Christian’s relatives declined to speak when approached by the Sunday Guardian.
Christian celebrated her 33rd birthday yesterday.
Meanwhile, a second female vendor who is yet to be identified was shot on her foot during the incident. She was treated at the hospital and released.
Senior police officers said “Breast,” of Beetham, was liming in the vicinity of D’Style Mall when a car stopped and the lone occupant began firing at him.
During the incident which was over in less than five minutes, the intended target managed to escape by running into Giant Supermarket.
A bleeding Williams staggered into the mall and collapsed, while Christian died on the pavement.
The gunman escaped in the waiting car.
As onlookers rushed to help the injured people, one man managed to retrieve Williams’s service revolver and later handed it over to ASP Edmund Cumberbatch of the Besson
Street Police Station.
Speaking briefly Saturday night, Cumberbatch said the reckless shooting had claimed the life of a dedicated officer who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He lamented the loss of yet another serviceman, adding that police mobile and foot patrols had already been increased in the capital city ahead of the Christmas season.
Extending condolences to the families of the victims, Cumberbatch sought to reassure visitors and workers in the city that the TTPS was committed to ensuring their safety and security.