A policeman and a car rental businessman were found shot to death at Mango Alley, Trou Macaque, Laventille, on Monday night.
Constable Lennon Luther Martin Augustine, 26, and his close friend Jason Bravo, 34, were found dead around 8.30 pm. Augustine was found slumped in the driver's seat of a Hyundai pick-up, while Bravo was discovered in a nearby drain. Augustine, of Second Caledonia Road, Morvant, was the driver of the vehicle. He was shot twice in the head. Bravo, the father of an eight-year-old girl, was a front seat passenger of the vehicle. He was also shot while seated in the vehicle. Augustine, a former SRP, was recently absorbed into the T&T Police Service. He had been assigned to the Community Patrol Unit of Project 250. His killing sent shock waves throughout the Police Service. Augustine's elder brother, Prince, a prisons officer assigned to the Youth Training Centre at Golden Grove Road, Arouca, said he believed the murders were a well organised hit. He said there was no doubt in his mind the killings were connected to Bravo's Big J's Car Service at Picton Street Newtown, Port-of-Spain. Prince said: "They were put in place to get kill. Thousands of dollars and four blackberry phones remained untouched in the vehicle so it definitely wasn't robbery.
"This is not the first time my family has been attacked. Three people came to kill me when they fired shots at me a few years ago," Prince, popularly known as "Gangster Boss", said. He earned the alias because of his no-nonsense approach in dealing with prison inmates. He said Bravo and Augustine always moved and worked as a team and were so close that everyone referred to them as brothers. "He (Bravo) was part of our family. When he is (Augustine) off-duty, he would go and help out Bravo at the company. The last time we saw them alive was around 8 pm when they went to collect money for various (car) rentals," Prince said. Prince also dismissed allegations his brother was affiliated with a gang at Second Caledonia. He said: "Lennon don't do drugs or even smoke. He's an occasional drinker as far as I know and he and Bravo are not the type of fellas that will generate violence. They had no enemies." Augustine's mother, Glendalyn Lashley Augustine, said that was not the first time Augustine was attacked. She said during the Licensing Fete last February, Augustine was stabbed on the hands after he accosted a man who robbed a policewoman of her handbag.
