00:00Andy Guerra couldn't articulate his grief in words as his friend Francis
00:05Paul gave comfort to him at his son's mini mart in St. Mary's village Moruga
00:10today. Hours before Guerra's son Enrico and his five-year-old granddaughter were
00:16the mercy of an unrelenting gunman who chased him into his business place at
00:20Enrico's corner mart and pumped several bullets into him and his daughter was
00:25also inside. Investigators say the prison attack happened around 9.45 last
00:30night while Guerra was standing outside his business place speaking with another
00:34man. A gunman walking along the street shot at the men as Guerra took refuge in
00:40a shop in order to evade his attackers. However one of the men followed him into
00:44the shop where his five-year-old daughter was having her hair combed by
00:48a mother and opened fire. Guerra was shot multiple times in his head and back as
00:54well as his daughter who sustained gunshot wounds to her head, back and arm.
00:59While her father was pronounced dead on the scene the child was rushed to the
01:03Princesong District Health Facility where she passed away half an hour later.
01:08Francis Paul, a close friend of the family and a community activist who
01:12spoke on their behalf described these killings as cold and unsympathetic.
01:18It's a heartless way. Words can't describe what's going on here, you know. I mean, when you come in the middle of the night you're sure to get
01:28recovery. It's the last stop, you're sure to get something in. And when I heard last night it was really, and then the baby boy,
01:37caught by, but that's a heartless way. I mean, it's saddening. Paul, also visibly hurt by the
01:43killings, said the community, and by extension citizens of this country, do
01:48not feel safe anymore, and wondered if Commissioner of Police Eula Herewood
01:52Christopher or Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hines could
01:56tangibly empathize with the average citizen as violent crime continues to be
02:01a concern.
02:13I mean, I wish that the Commissioner of Police and the Minister of National Security could really feel what people are feeling right now in Trinidad.
02:20People are not safe, you know. The average person is not feeling safe in Trinidad right now.
02:24The average person wants to fly out of Trinidad right now.
02:27You're not safe nowhere, nowhere, nowhere. Long time ago they had crime hotspots, you know, hotspots again all over Trinidad, all over Trinidad right now.
02:34Senior homicide investigators say based on their information,
02:37Gero was an upstanding businessman in the area and had no criminal record,
02:42and was also not involved in any illegal activity, nor were there any threats to his family.
02:47However, senior homicide sources believe the shooting may be tied to an incident that occurred recently in the area,
02:53in which a well-known gang leader may have been involved, which potentially contained CCTV footage.
03:00Police say they are exploring these theories, but have not been able to establish a solid motive for the killing just yet.
03:06MB for Moruga Tableland, Michelle Benjamin, in a media release sent out this morning,
03:11said she was, open quote, sad and heartbroken by the tragic and senseless killings, close quote,
03:16of the father and daughter in the area and sent sympathies and prayers to the family.
03:21Benjamin also said in a release that there was, open quote,
03:25a growing and alarming trend that you have been witnessing in our community.
03:29Moruga Tableland, once a peaceful and close-knit area,
03:32has become a battleground for violent crime, close quote.
03:36Benjamin called on both Ministers Hines and Scotland in the Ministry of National Security
03:41to take immediate and decisive action to address the rampant crime in Moruga Tableland.
03:46Mark Besant, TV6 News.
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