The country’s bloodbath and mayhem continued yesterday, following a triple murder outside Pizza Boys restaurant in Cunupia, bringing the killings from Friday evening to yesterday to 15.
Dead are Coast Guard officer Dave Lyons, 24, Jah-Marley Goddard, 23, both of Sea Trace, Diego Martin and Earl Peters Jr, 33.
Vice president of Operations Facility and Maintenance of Pizza Boys Mustapha Ali told Guardian Media that the three men entered the restaurant to purchase chillers and a meal around noon.
After paying for the items the men headed back to their grey Subaru and were leaving the parking lot when a car driving along the Southern Main Road unexpectedly broadsided their vehicle.
The Subaru crashed into a nearby wall.
Within seconds two armed occupants of the car ran out and began shooting at the three men who were still seated in the vehicle.
The bullets ripped through the rear windscreen, left windows and sides of the car while it shattered the front glass of the food outlet.
The driver tried to run to escape the hail of bullets but he was hit multiple times about his body in the carpark.
He died in a fetal position at the side of a Hilux van.
The two other men died in the car.
Ali said it appeared to be a hit.
“Apparently they were being followed. To the best of our knowledge it was not a robbery.”
He said at the time of the shooting four customers were in the store who were questioned by the police.
“Thank God nobody was injured...our employees nor customers. One of the bullets penetrated the ceiling. Some of the bullets came inside the building.”
Ali said innocent customers and their employees could have been killed.
Three employees of the restaurant were on duty.
“The staff is very traumatised right now. We will not be reopening today.”
Ali said the company intends to provide counselling for affected workers.
He said a few times the food establishment was robbed and they had to ramp up security.
Describing the violence as terrible, Ali said the country needed to get a handle on crime.
“Nowhere is safe in Trinidad,” Ali said.
At the crime scene, several relatives of the three murdered men broke down in tears.
Others paced the roadway unable to contain their grief.
Some just shook their heads in disbelief.
Weeping as they approached the bodies were Lyon’s father, mother and brother who did not give their names.
During a brief interview with reporters, Lyon’s father said his son was home half an hour before the shooting.
“He was home. We were doing some construction at Sea Trace, Diego Martin. And a car just come and blowing and calling him,” he said, wiping away tears.
His son left in the car and that was the last time he was seen alive.
Last Friday, the father said Lyons celebrated his 24th birthday.
Another relative then disclosed that Lyons was a Coast Guard officer, but did not provide details as to how long he had been in the service.
The murders attracted dozens of curious onlookers and scores of police officers who had to cordon off the crime scene and divert traffic.
Residents shocked
Living in Cunupia for more than two decades, one resident, who requested anonymity, said this was the first time she had seen a triple killing in the community.
Peeping at the bodies, an elderly woman said she was shocked by the killings.
“I am still shaking.”
The woman lives a few streets from Pizza Boys- a place she frequents.
“We have a crime watch group but this is something else. It’s sad. It’s frightful.”
With crime spiralling out of control, the woman said she now stays indoors.
“But even inside your home it’s not safe anymore.”
Workers inside Hong Long Wholesale and Retail Supermarket located opposite Pizza Boys said they all scampered for safety when the gunmen opened fire.
“It was bullets like rain,” one worker said, “My Godness, what is this place coming to?”
