FIVE DEAD By Alexander Bruzual Monday, September 14 2009
A birthday party at a Curepe bar ended in a bloodbath yesterday as five men between the ages of 17-27 were killed by two armed men.
The man who the killers came for had left the bar a few moments earlier, said people at the scene. The dead men are: Glen Morris, 27, of Five Rivers, Arouca; his friend Damien Pounnette, 24, of Knowles Street, Curepe; Kieron Charles, 24, of Arnos Vale, Tobago; Ray James, 23, of Poinsetta Street, Macoya; and Hakeem Vickles, 17, of Belle Smythe Street, Curepe.
Up to yesterday afternoon police had no motive for the shooting. There is speculation however that these killings were believed to have stemmed from a stabbing incident last week in another Curepe bar.
Police reports indicate that the patrons of the La Cabana Bar, formerly known as “The Pillars” along Eccles Street, Curepe, had gathered from early Saturday night for a birthday celebration.
At about 2.30 am, two men entered the building and began shooting indiscriminately at those inside the bar. As shots rang out in the early morning, people were sent scampering for their lives.
As quickly as they came, the men exited and ran south along Eccles Street, on to the Churchill Roosevelt Highway and escaped on foot. Shocked onlookers then frantically called police and medical services.
In the aftermath of the carnage, it was learnt that seven individuals had been shot, five of whom were fatally wounded.
The two remaining victims were wounded in their lower bodies and were taken to the Eric Williams Sciences Complex for treatment and observation.
Immediately after the shooting, officers from the Special Anti-crime Unit of TT (SAUTT) and Homicide Bureau of Investigations were called in and investigations were still taking place four hours later when Newsday arrived on the scene.
Crowds of curious onlookers and residents gathered in the savannah opposite the bar, trying to get a glimpse of the bodies as they were being removed from the bar by coroners.
Several residents openly condemned the shooting and made loud pleas for police officers to begin patrolling the area to prevent a reoccurrence.
“First thing Sunday morning, instead of cricket and football, men have to come outside to see dead bodies? This isn’t right. They know the kind of things which does go on in this place. It was only a matter of time before it all exploded like this. Police need to step up and begin regular patrols before this situation gets worse,” said one resident who gave his name as Michael.
Relatives of two of the dead men, Morris and Pounnette, who were outside the bar were seen crying as they tried to get a look at their loved ones.
Morris’ mother Paula held the hands of her son’s two daughters — three-year-old Gina and two- year-old Gabriella — as she spoke to reporters.
“On Friday we spent the entire day together and even up to Saturday I was talking to him saying how we have to go and take in church. Right now I am trying to be strong, and be there for his children because they are too small to understand what is going on. But I am hurting so, so much,” Paula said. She too also made a passionate call for more police patrols in the area, saying crime had become too rampant when innocent people were being killed for no reason. She described her son as a good and loving person who was always there for his daughters.
“He lived for his girls, and they loved him dearly. Right now we have to look after them because they are going to grow up without a father. All I can say is, don’t let him die in vain,” Paula said.
Vickles’ relatives described the teenager as a joyous and happy person who did not deserve to die like this. Vickles’ stepbrother Nico Kelsey Hughes said his brother was a quiet and fun loving person, who was never into violence.
“The man used to go Malick, but you can ask any and everybody, he was a good kid. He wanted to be a DJ, now all of that gone. It was just a birthday party he went to, this shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
“ If they come for one then let them just take that one. Why they have to take out the whole bar so?” Hughes said of the gunmen.
At the time Vickles’ mother and Pounette’s family were too distraught to be interviewed.
Joanne Ned, the mother of Philberth “Kieron” Charles, said, “As a mother I must feel sad but I have to try to be strong but I grew up in church and I know God.”
She said he went to the birthday party upstairs and came downstairs to buy a drink. “He was sitting around the bar when these two crazy men came in and just started shooting up the place so he got caught up in that,” she said.
Ned, who came to Trinidad yesterday, explained that her son did not live in Trinidad but whenever his uncles had straightening and painting work to do, he came here and returned after the work was completed.
She said her son was supposed to return to Tobago yesterday by the inter-island ferry. Sgt Eric Parks is the investigating officer.
