Dad killed while protecting family

In a valiant effort to protect his family from bandits, a Ste Madeleine father of two was shot on Thursday night in full view of his children. Brenton Taylor, 47, of Manahambre Road, died on arrival at the Princes Town Health Facility after he was shot in the chest by a bandit who invaded his home. Police said at around 7:30 pm, three men scaled a fence outside Taylor’s home and confronted a 15-year-old boy who was sitting on a step. They ordered the boy to remain silent as they banged on the Taylors’ kitchen door.

Taylor’s wife, Sharon, opened the door and one of the men threatened her with a knife. The terrified woman cried out and her husband rushed into kitchen where he was stabbed in the neck by the intruder. A scuffled ensued. The bandit ran out of the of the kitchen and headed to the upstairs of the house, with Taylor in pursuit. It was at that point Taylor was shot once in the chest by another of the intruders. His children, Akeem, 13, Akeisha, nine, and Afiya, five, witnessed the incident. The bandits later went into an adjoining apartment where they robbed a couple of $85 and a credit card, before they fled the scene.

Taylor’s sister-in-law, Ann Marie Mac Millan, flew in from Tobago after hearing of the tragedy. Yesterday, she sat on the steps of the Taylors’ home and sobbed. She described her brother-in-law as a jovial person who always took good care of his family. “I could never come from Tobago and not see Brenton. He always made me laugh,” she said. Eyewitnesses said they noticed a car in the area. Taylor’s landlady, Elizabeth Mohammed, who lives a few houses away said she heard the dogs barking loudly that night.  She said she saw a strange man in the neighbourhood but thought nothing of it.