An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

A Ca­roni man who was ac­cus­tomed to dri­ving his friend to the Cen­tral Mar­ket, Port-of-Spain, as part of a week­ly rit­u­al, was am­bushed and shot mul­ti­ple times and left to die on the road, in what po­lice be­lieve could be a rob­bery.

The 60-year-old, who lives at Riv­er Branch Road, Kel­ly Vil­lage, was dis­cov­ered ly­ing along San­ta Mon­i­ca Trace, El Car­men Vil­lage, St He­le­na. He had re­port­ed­ly been on his way to col­lect his 69-year-old friend.

The friend who found him told po­lice the vic­tim was ac­cus­tomed to pick­ing him up by 2 am on agreed days, so they could go to the whole­sale mar­ket where they usu­al­ly pur­chased fruits and veg­eta­bles to re­tail in Ca­roni. The friend said he be­came con­cerned when the vic­tim didn’t ar­rive by 2.15 am, and all calls to his cell­phone went unan­swered.

Call­ing on an­oth­er friend to pick him up, the vic­tim’s friend said the two came across the vic­tim’s white Nis­san AD Wag­on at 2.40 am, stalled in the mid­dle of San­ta Mon­i­ca Trace, and his friend ly­ing on the road.

Alert­ing po­lice and first re­spon­ders, the friend wait­ed un­til med­ical of­fi­cials ar­rived.

The vic­tim was shot in the up­per body sev­er­al times, while his car had a bul­let hole on the right side of the wind­shield.

The vic­tim was tak­en to the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ence Com­plex, Mt Hope, where he was treat­ed and ward­ed in a crit­i­cal con­di­tion.

Four spent 9 mm shell cas­ings were re­cov­ered at the scene.

The vic­tim’s wife con­firmed he left home around 2.15 am to col­lect his friend.