Three Men Gunned Down in Trinidad By Assailants Pretending to Be Police Officers

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The murder toll in Trinidad and Tobago has jumped to 28 so far his year, after three men were gunned down by “several men in police uniforms” in Morvant on the outskirts of the capital on Tuesday night.

Police said a group of men were under a tent in Paradise Heights, when a dark-coloured van drove up and three men wearing police tactical gear got out, identified themselves as police before shooting at the crowd. The gunmen got back in the vehicle and left.

The authorities said 26-year-old Shaqkeem Dennis died at the scene, while Israel McClaren, 19 and Jammol Williams, whose age was not disclosed, later died at hospital.

The authorities said they had recovered 18 spent 7.62 shells  and 14 spent 5.56 shells at the scene.

Videos circulating on social media showed the bodies on the road as onlookers came be heard calling for one of the victims to be taken to hospital.

Earlier this week, former police commissioner, Gary Griffith, disagreed with a statement made by Opposition Leader, Kamla Persad Bissessar, that a state of emergency (SOE) should be declared to deal with the crime situation.

Both Persad Bissessar and Griffith were speaking on Monday night at an opposition United National Congress (UNC) public discussion on crime  when she made the call for the SOE as had been done when her  coalition People’s Patnership government did so in 2011.

Griffith said while the 2011 SOE may have been needed at the time, he did not believe that the current situation warranted another one.

He told the audience the 2011 SOE resulted from several factors, including law enforcement and intelligence agencies bringing to the attention of the National Security Council “a clear and present danger of a deliberate attempt by subversive elements, with an agenda to destabilize the country, inclusive of plans to commit mass killings around the country”