Wanted man shot and killed by policeBy CECILY ASSON Sunday, October 11 2009
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Gary Mohammed....
One of two men wanted in connection with the murder of Tobago teenagers Kelon Salandy and Rondell Thomas was shot and killed in Moruga on Friday night.
He has been identified as Trinidadian Gary Mohammed, 29, of Sangster Hill, Tobago.
Mohammed was shot several times about the body during a shootout with police in a house in St Mary’s Village, Moruga.
Mohammed, operated a mini mart on the Signal Hill taxi stand, downtown Scarborough, police said.
The second suspect, a 32- year-old man of African descent of Mason Hall, Tobago escaped.
Police, however, believe he was wounded during the exchange of gunfire and all hospitals and medical centres have been alerted to be on the lookout for the injured man.
Newsday was told that five years ago, Mohammed, the father of a then 11-month-old baby girl, Gabby, left his home at First Street, Ste Madeleine to take up residence in Tobago.
Mohammed and his accomplice have been in hiding since the incident and allegedly fled Tobago two weeks ago using a fishing pirogue which investigators believe they boarded at a beach in Back Bay, Mt Irvine, Tobago.
Relatives confirmed that Mohammed was facing a charge of robbery and kidnapping and was out on $50,000 bail. On Tuesday, his matter came up for hearing in the San Fernando Assizes Court.
Police reported that at about 10.15 pm on Friday they went to a house in Moruga where they were fired upon by the occupants. Police returned fire wounding the men — one escaped and Mohammed was rushed to the Princes Town District Health Facility and later transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Yesterday at his Ste Madeleine home, Mohammed’s mother Rasheeda, 52, and his sister Hafeeza Mohammed-Grant, 31 struggled to come to terms with his death.
“We are still waiting for police to inform us — is on the eight o’clock radio news I hear my brother was killed. Someone called us just after seven this morning and say they heard it,” Hafeeza said. “We couldn’t believe.”
Relatives said he had changed his life but since his Tobago home was searched by police, Mohammed went on the run.
Rasheeda said she last spoke to her son in August when he gave her $400.
“Police came home here on Wednesday looking for him but we didn’t know his whereabouts.
“They threatened to kill him if he did not give himself up,” she sobbed.
“I saw my son on the slab in the mortuary, his Rasta locks were gone, there were bullet holes in his face and all over his chest, there was plenty blood.
“A big plaster was on his side — from what we saw he got plenty bullets.”
Hafeeza said her brother had pleaded his innocence in the September 19 double murder of Salandy,16, and Thomas,15, whose bodies were found in bushes in French Fort by members of a prayer group.
“We never knew him to be violent — he was always someone laughing and free handed,” his sister said.
Investigations are continuing.
