RALPH BAN­WARIE

Po­lice are con­tin­u­ing their in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the mur­der of a 25-year-old Va­len­cia man on Fri­day evening.

Er­ic “Cat” Al­fon­so, a handy­man of Palm Road, died on the spot af­ter he was shot in the head by an as­sailant at his home. Po­lice said he was alone when he was at­tacked and shot around 6.45 pm.

Res­i­dents re­port­ed­ly heard gun­shots and alert­ed po­lice. On ar­rival at the home, po­lice found Al­fon­so in a pool of blood in his yard.

The of­fi­cers cor­doned off the area and al­lowed Crime Scene in­ves­ti­ga­tors to process the scene.

Dis­trict Med­ical Of­fi­cer Dr Au­gus­tine viewed the body and or­dered its re­moval to the San­gre Grande Hos­pi­tal mor­tu­ary, from where it will be tak­en to the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre, St James, for an au­top­sy to de­ter­mine the cause of death.

Po­lice said Al­fon­so, who was orig­i­nal­ly from To­co, was well known to them.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia at the scene, Al­fon­so’s dis­traught com­mon-law wife, Tr­ishell Har­ris, said she left the house ear­li­er with her two-year-old child and was not at home when her hus­band was shot. She said friends called her to de­liv­er the trag­ic news.

Al­fon­so’s mur­der was the sec­ond to take place in Va­len­cia with­in a few days. On­ly last Fri­day, prison of­fi­cer Trevor Ser­rette, who was at­tached to the Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison in Arou­ca, was gunned down while at his fruit and veg­etable stall along the East­ern Main Road in Va­len­cia.

Vis­it­ing the scene on Fri­day were ASP Re­vanales, Sgt Gadar, Ag Cpl Khan WPCs Gon­za­les, Sankar of East­ern Di­vi­sion, Ag WS­gt Charles, Cpl James WPC Melville and PC Lan­cast­er of Arou­ca Homi­cide Bu­reau Re­gion 2.

The Arou­ca Homi­cide Bu­reau Re­gion 2 is con­tin­u­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tions.

The shoot­ing and killing of Al­fon­so pushed the mur­der toll to 417.