kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Minutes after Rondell Belgrave showed a friend the gifts he planned to give his daughter on Christmas Day, a gunman shot him six times.
Despite reaching the San Fernando General Hospital within minutes, the 35-year-old La Brea used car parts dealer died while medical staff was attending to him.
Belgrave was at a friend’s home along Pleasantville Circular, San Fernando, when a masked gunman attacked.
His friend, who requested anonymity yesterday, said it was just before 2 am when Belgrave had finished eating a plate of food and gone inside the house to wash his hands.
“I offered him some Punch de Creme, and right there, he sat down drinking the Ponche de Creme,” the friend said, pointing to a bench on the porch.
He continued: “A gunman just ran into the yard, shot him and ran back out. I was sitting right there on the bench with him.”
The friend explained that after Belgrave suffered the first gunshot, the gunman ordered him (his friend) inside the house. The gunman then fired more shots before running out of the yard.
The friend called an ambulance, but Belgrave asked to go to the hospital. Together with neighbours, they lifted Belgrave into an SUV and took him to the hospital, where he subsequently died.
The friend said he had known Belgrave for six years and that yesterday’s ordeal was unexpected. He said Christmas Day was usually quiet at his home, but the murder kept him awake all morning.
“You see it in the news but this is the first time ... It is closer to home than you think.”
Although the murderer did not attack him, the friend said everyone at his home has to be extra careful now. He said his family was inside when the gunshots woke them.
Southern Division police, led by Supt Carty, Sgt Bisnath and Sgt Basarath, and a team of detectives from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region III, led by Insp Jones, responded to the murder.
However, investigators are yet to determine a motive. Police said when they arrived at the scene around 2.20 am, they interviewed the friend’s mother, who reported that she was inside her home around 1.57 am when she heard several explosions. She then checked outside and saw Belgrave lying on the porch, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, and her son assisting him.
A medical report showed that Belgrave suffered five gunshot wounds to his chest and one to his shoulder. A Crime Scene Investigator retrieved four 9mm bullet casings and two projectiles at the scene.
Investigators learned that Belgrave went to the friend’s home around 12.30 am. Around 1.55 am, they were on the porch when a gunman dressed in dark-coloured clothing with a white bandana covering his face walked into the yard. He reportedly told Belgrave’s friend, “Move from dey” before shooting Belgrave. The gunman then ran to a silver Nissan AD Wagon, which drove along Cattleya Drive, Pleasantville, and disappeared.
