Police believe two murders, which occurred a week apart, are revenge killings linked to a criminal case which collapsed before the Princes Town Magistrates Court.
The latest killing targeted Akiel Thomas, of Princes Town, who was shot and left on the side of Penal Rock Road on Sunday.
Thomas, 28, of Lengua Road, Indian Walk, died at the Intensive Care Unit of the San Fernando General Hospital on Monday, after being shot twice in the head.
Detectives said his murder was related to the July 6 shooting death of 18-year-old Tylon Dyer. Dyer and a relative were working at his father's welding shop located at the front of their Moruga Road, Indian Walk, home around 1.40 pm, when a silver Nissan Tiida pulled up and two men with bandanas over their faces came out of the vehicle. One of the men shot Dyer three times in the back. As he fell to the ground, the gunman stood over him and fired several shots before running back to the car. The suspects then escaped.
Police stood guard at Dyer's funeral.
On Sunday, a passerby walking along Penal Rock Road, Moruga, saw Thomas lying on the roadside and called the police.
Around 10.15 pm, ag Cpl Teeluck and PC Bissoon found Thomas lying on his stomach with what they initially thought was a puncture wound to the left side of his head. He was taken to the Princes Town District Health Facility and later transferred to San Fernando.
Speaking at Thomas' home yesterday, his mother Jennifer Khan said she did not know why he was killed but heard the rumours that it was because of his cousins Antrez and Kendall Khan.
Antrez and Kendall along with Dyer's brother, Victor Marcano, were charged with the 2012 murder of Marcus Cooper. Cooper was killed in a drive-by shooting on New Year's Day.
The case against the three men was dismissed at the Princes Town Magistrates Court last month and police and residents have been bracing for the killings since then.
Khan said her son was home watching cricket with his family when he got a phone call stating that someone was coming to pick him up. She said he did not tell anyone where he was going nor did anyone see who picked him up.
She said it was unusual for him to be at Penal Rock Road since he had no known friends or family in that area. She said he usually came straight home from work and would occasionally lime with his friends close by.
Khan said she spent Monday at the hospital with her son and it was after she left that staff there called the family and told her he would not make it.
"He died around 11.10 pm. They called home and said to tell anyone who wanted to see him to come one time because he would not make it through the night. Relatives said Thomas was not perfect but was a respectable young man who lived and worked for his son.