RALPH BAN­WARIE

Po­lice are in­ves­ti­gat­ing the shoot­ing death of Va­len­cia gar­den­er An­tho­ny Sankar whose body was found with gun­shot wounds to the face and tor­so on Wednes­day evening.

Sankar, 42, of KP Lands, Va­len­cia, left his home around 11 am to tend to his gar­den along the By­pass Road. He did not re­turn home at his usu­al time of 6 pm, and sev­er­al calls to his cell phone went unan­swered.

Con­cerned, his rel­a­tives, along with friends and neigh­bours, went to the gar­den around 8.45 pm, where they found Sankar dead.

Of­fi­cers from the Va­len­cia Po­lice Sta­tion and the Homi­cide Bu­reau Re­gion 2, vis­it­ed the scene.

Au­thor­i­ties be­lieve Sankar’s killing might be re­lat­ed to land dis­putes.

Sankar’s sis­ter, Alana, de­scribed him as a pro­tec­tive and fun-lov­ing per­son.

“It was dev­as­tat­ing when I got the news that he was shot and killed. I felt con­fused, had body aches, and stom­ach pains,” she said.

She point­ed out Sankar’s dog, Max, who was seen sit­ting be­side his body in the gar­den.

“Max would stay with An­tho­ny un­til he is ready to re­turn home. A dog re­al­ly is a man’s best friend,” she said.