An aspiring medical doctor was among seven people murdered over the last 24 hours in four separate incidents, two of which were double murders, bringing the murder toll to 22 for the year so far.
Akash Dookie, 20, was at a birthday lime at Marcano Drive, off El Dorado Road, when gunmen opened fire on the group of men he was liming with shooting Dookie and another man who police have identified as Darius Joseph.
Ironically, police said, the shooting occurred just mere metres away from where the wake of Monday night’s murder victim, 32-year-old Charisse Bramble, was taking place.
Dookie’s relatives said he was not attending the wake but a birthday lime, however, they did not know whose birthday it was.
According to a police report, at about 11 pm on Tuesday, both men were standing among a group of people when gunmen opened fire on them. Both men were shot several times about their bodies. They were taken to the Arima District Health Facility but were pronounced dead on arrival.
Speaking with members of the media outside of the Forensic Science Centre (FSC) yesterday, Dookie’s eldest sister said her brother used to do disc jockeying part-time at birthday parties, weddings and other events. She said just last week Dookie was taken to the hospital after he experienced loss of appetite and vomiting. She said he became depressed and was grieving after he broke up with his girlfriend and added that they were very concerned about his well-being.
Dookie’s sister said in a recent conversation with her brother he told her that he was due to undergo his driving test in April and was thinking of going to study medicine to become a doctor.
In an earlier incident, at about 9 pm on Tuesday Yahvel “Balo Boss” Joseph of Building 7 West Maloney Gardens and Nathon Cummings, 25, of Tourmaline Street, Demerara Heights, Wallerfield were standing outside a friend’s house when gunmen in a car opened fire on them. They were both taken to the Arima District Health Facility where they died while undergoing treatment.
One of Joseph’s relatives, who were also at the FSC said she recently spoke to him about “being careful.”
“I was telling him to watch himself with everything that going on…you know it has a war going on with this side and that side and to be careful. I had also told him to organise a little contract work,” the relative said.
Another relative said Joseph was called by a friend about a lime. “They were in a car and they came out to give their friend a bounce when men in car in front of them crack the door and shoot at them,” the relative said.
In the third incident, also at about 11 pm on Tuesday, Dwayne “Bravo” James, 28, of Braithwaite Lane, Belmont, was at Maryland Hill sitting in a vehicle when he was fatally shot. Police said he was shot once in the head. James was a father of two daughters and would have celebrated his 29th birthday on January 31.
Relatives expressed shock over his murder and admitted that the “only thing he did wrong was driving without his seat belt.”
In Tobago, at about 2 am yesterday, fire officers were called to Belmont Link Road in Hope where a vehicle was said to be on fire. When the officers put out the fire the burnt body of a man was discovered in the back seat of the car.
Yesterday afternoon, at about 3 pm Kevon Robertson, 33, was fatally shot in Malick, Barataria. Police said Robertson’s murder was believed to have been gang-related and linked to the attempted murder of a relative of a well-known man from Seventh Avenue in Malick.
Investigations are continuing into all incidents