A Moruga mother who has lost three of her sons to gun violence is advising people to pray for their children.
With tears streaming down her face, Sherma James spoke with reporters at her Simon Trace, St Mary's Village home yesterday, the morning after her son Oba Gill was murdered.
Gill and his friend and business partner Brandon Seenath, both 33, were shot dead in the garage of Gill's house, a short distance away from James' home.
The men, who operated a small fish vending business, were sitting around 5.30 pm on Monday when two gunmen accosted them and opened fire. They died at the scene. Gill was the father of two, while Seenath was the father of three.
Gill was the brother of Shumba James who was the State's main witness against six police officers who were recently acquitted on a triple murder charge.
Gill's brother Lester James was killed by police during an alleged shoot-out in St Mary's Village, Moruga, in May 2005, and the seizure of $3 million worth of cocaine and marijuana.
Two years later, Gill's other brother Italo James was shot dead in his marijuana field at Simon Trace.
Their father was arrested and charged with his murder, but he was eventually found not guilty and freed in 2018.
Gill's 64-year-old mother said he was the seventh of her nine children.
"I give God thanks because he said in all things give Him thanks. He does not give you more than you can bear. We know that he is with the Lord where there is no more trials, tribulations, bad names, frame, nothing. My child was a loving child. Every Sunday when I cook I will miss him," she lamented.
She believes God will give her the strength to cope with her son's murder.
"To the nation I say, remember to keep on praying for your children. Because today they are here and tomorrow they can be snatched from us. I know God will give us fresh courage," she said.
The mother added that the Government could not be blamed for the crime situation.
She said, "It is the people that have to do more. They cannot expect the Government to do everything. We the people have to change. Everything is a sacrifice in life."
She advised people to pray and be responsible.
"Trinidad people like to sit and wait and talk government, government. Let them get up and face the reality," she said.
Seenath was originally from Rio Claro, but earlier this year he moved in with his father at St Mary's Village. His younger sister, who asked not to be named, said she spoke to her brother about an hour before he was killed.
She was told that Seenath was at Gill's home putting the fish they did not sell into cold storage.
"I do not know how to feel about this," she said.
"Nobody expects death or murder, but it hits hard. The hardest part is him leaving behind his three children."
She said she never worried about him being in any danger.
"He was settled in his business and doing good. (But) I was not there in his everyday life."
She believes that he was not the intended target of the gunmen.
"As I say, my opinion is that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said.
Describing the gun violence in the country as terrible, Seenath's sister said, "Every day I pray for a miracle for the gun violence to end. This type of incident never happened before."
She believes crime was under control under the leadership of then-police commissioner Gary Griffith.
"I think the government could do more to curb crime. We had things under control but the individual who had things under control they got rid of him."
Crime scene investigators recovered ten 5.56 spent casings at the scene. Homicide detectives believe the killings may have been drug-related, but investigations are ongoing.