A TUNAPUNA mother of three was shot dead in Enterprise, Chaguanas, on Friday night, in what her friends and family yesterday described as a senseless killing.
Valene Vanessa Campbell, 34, of Marcano Street, Tunapuna, was found lying face-down in a concrete drain around 7.50 p.m. on Friday night, shortly after a report of gunshots was relayed to the E999 Command Centre.
Officers from the Chaguanas CID found Campbell with a gunshot wound to the upper back.
Police do not believe she was robbed because her purse was found next to her.
When the Sunday Express visited her home yesterday, friends, family and neighbours were distraught.
Six of them sat outside the home speaking about the type of person she was. ‘She was the life of the party,’ said one of her friends and neighbours, who only identified herself as Candace. ‘She was a girl who used to be there for you. You could call on her, you could ask her to go anywhere, she would go.’
She said Campbell had two daughters and a son, the youngest being just six years old. ‘She was real humble, real humble. That’s all she used to live for, her kids,’ Candace said.
‘Every day we used to talk.’
Candace recalled that on the day of her murder, Campbell messaged her around 5.48 p.m. saying she was heading to Chaguanas to collect something from someone she knew. ‘That was the last message I get. After that I was trying to call her whole evening and I wasn’t getting on to her. I start to worry.
‘Then I see two police jeeps pass, and I tell my friend any time police going by Valene, something wrong. And that’s exactly what happened.’
Killed in Matura
In an unrelated incident in Matura, an unidentified man was gunned down near a cell tower along Thomas Trace on Friday night. Police said they suspect it was a targeted shooting in the quiet rural community.
At 8.28 p.m., a team of officers from the Matura and Toco police stations were conducting road checks in the vicinity of the Matura Police Station when they were alerted to several gunshots heard at Thomas Trace.
A party of officers made their way to the scene, where they found a man lying in a bushy area about five feet off the road. He also had a headlamp around his neck and showed signs of life when found.
The man, whose identity remains unknown, was taken to the Sangre Grande Hospital by officers. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
There have been 196 murders for the year so far.
