Almost four days after a vegetable vendor was murdered at his stall in Point Fortin, a 39-year-old small business owner of Laventille met a similar fate on Thursday night.Danny Gouveia became the third vendor to be killed at a road-side stall in less than a month. Gunmen launched an attack on his business place at Rigault Street, Laventille around 10.45 pm.He was one of two men shot dead in east Port-of-Spain between Thursday night and yesterday afternoon. The killings pushed the murder toll to 143.
Police said Gouveia was in his stall in front of his house. His relatives heard a volley of gunshots.When they came outside to check they found Gouveia lying in the stall with gunshot wounds to the upper body. Gouveia's 24-year-old neighbour Jevon McBean, who was purchasing items from the stall when the shooting occurred was also wounded.Officers of the Inter-Agency Task Force took the injured men to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital.
Gouveia was pronounced at the hospital. McBean underwent surgery and remained warded in a serious condition up to late yesterday.A news team from the T&T Guardian attempted to interview Gouveia's relatives after an autopsy was performed on his body at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday.Gouveia's wife Onika Davis was seen crying continuously and was shielded by her relatives when approached by media personnel.
"Right now we trying to figure out what happen. We are trying to grieve so we can't talk right now," a female relative said.Despite their unwillingness to comment extensively, they briefly said Gouveia was a "good man" who was "not in anything".On March 22, 35-year-old Barry Maloney was shot dead at his stall at corner of Paul Augustus and Chin Chin Roads in Cunupia.
Exactly one month later on Monday, Dane Joseph, 38, a father of four was shot dead by a gunman who pretended to be a customer at his stall along Cap-de-Ville Main Road, Point Fortin.Homicide detectives said despite the coincidence that all three victims shared the same occupation, there was no evidence which suggested that the incidents were connected.Meanwhile, police are investigating the murder of a 23-year-old man at an apartment building in East Dry River, yesterday afternoon.
Investigators said shortly after 1 pm, Jerome Gulston, of Mango Rose, East Dry River, went to the ninth floor of a neighbouring apartment building to meet someone.When he arrived he was confronted by a gunman who shot him several times.Gulston's murder has been classified as gang related as investigators said he was well known to police and had a "lengthy and diverse" criminal record.