Criminal gangs in Trinidad and Tobago have been monitoring police patrols before carrying out illegal activities. Two mass shootings in March and June have been described as fitting this criminal modus operandi. On March 16, gunmen opened fire on a group of men liming at Harpe Place, Port of Spain, killing police sergeant Larry Phillip, Pete Noray, Devon Jack, Randy Greaves, and Rudolph Donnie James.
On June 2, gunmen pulled up in a white AD wagon and opened fire on a group of men at Lange Street, Gonzales, Belmont, shortly after the men had finished a football game at a nearby field. The victims were 21-year-old Jayden Reyes, 31-year-old Abdul Williams, 31-year-old Johnathan Arjoon, and the intended target, Kevin “Grimes” King, a former lieutenant of the Sixx gang.
King and Arjoon were taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital for treatment. Unknown to them, their assailants had followed and the gunmen entered the hospital near the ambulance ramp area and opened fire on the injured King, hitting him and several others before escaping. King and Arjoon were later declared dead, while several others were left nursing injuries.
Senior intelligence sources explained how King’s murder was co-ordinated and the careful planning of these gangs in orchestrating similar hits. One senior intelligence source explained that the killing of Amor Howe on February 20 has since sparked a spate of murders in the underworld. King, a former Rasta City (now known as the Seven gang) member since 2018, had a falling-out with one of the lieutenants of the Seven gang in the Belmont area known by the alias “Kush Boss” and recently switched his allegiance to the Sixx gang.
The planning of the Harpe Place murders was no different. A confidential source revealed that the killers patiently waited until the police/army patrol was back in base on Charlotte Street before launching their attack. After the shooting of Howe, King and others had been alerted about the threat to their lives by law enforcement and other sources.
Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds and Commissioner of Police Erla Christopher visited the scene of the shooting at Gonzales and the hospital on June 2. He condemned the killings and the brazenness of the suspects to follow the injured victims to the hospital to ensure their target had been killed.
