In addition to the Chatham South Trace quadruple murder, three reported homicides in South Trinidad were being probed by police on July 16.
Brent Luces, 41, a father of two, was gunned down outside his grandmother’s Blitz Village, Pleasantville home around 9 am.
Speaking to reporters, Avril Luces, the victim’s mother, said Brent was heard arguing with someone shortly before he was shot.
“My mother was upstairs and she heard Brent and another man arguing about Play Whe,” said the distraught mother. “She said all of a sudden she heard gunshots but she did not see the person.”
She said she last saw Brent about an hour before his death, when she came to pick up his 18-month-old son to carry him to daycare. She recalled her last conversation with her son.
"I had some money in the car door and he say ‘Mammy you must not leave money outside like that, somebody could rob you.’”
Brent's 16-year-old daughter, who lives elsewhere, was brought to the scene, where she held on to her grandmother and wept.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, a South Division police said the Luces family was well known to the police and the victim had several charges for possession of guns and drugs. But police did not immediately identify a motive for the killing.
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Southern Division Homicide officers at the scene of murder victim Brent Luces July 15 at Blitz Village, Pleasantville, San Fernando. Photo: T&T Guardian / Tony Howell |
Several eyewitnesses at the scene said they saw a man dressed in a Cepep uniform fleeing the scene after Brent was shot. The man ran through some bushes opposite the house and was seen taking off the Cepep coverall as he ran. He escaped into a waiting vehicle on Maple Street, a short distance away from the scene, witnesses said.
Investigators found spent shells in front and behind the house. It is believed that the gunman shot Brent in front of the house and followed him as he ran behind the house, where he was shot at again. He was found dead beneath a tree in the backyard.
Avril said Brent was the eldest of her five sons and described him as a cool person. She said he was employed on-and-off in the Point Lisas Industrial Estate.
His father was well known cyclist Ken Luces, who died last year while cycling at Skinner Park.
Southern Division police are continuing investigations.
In a separate incident, homicide officers are on the scene at an area called the Coconuts, where the body of a man was found on the side of the road earlier this morning. His body also bore gun shot wounds.
Police are also investigating the cirsumstances surrounding the killing of John Herrera, 57, who was stabbed to death last night and whose Rio Claro home was later torched.