By Staff Editor

Copyright stabroeknews

(Trinidad Express) Two brothers were shot and killed, and their cousin remains hospitalised in critical condition following a shooting incident in Mt Hope on Tuesday afternoon.

This was the fourth incident in less than 24 hours which saw six people murdered.

The deceased have been identified as 15-year-old Jovel Paul, a student of San Juan Secondary School; and his brother, 22-year-old Rodney Slater.

Both siblings resided along Mt Hope Road Extension. Slater was recently unemployed but held plumbing certifications.

Their cousin was listed in critical condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex up to late yesterday.

According to police reports, around 12.30 p.m., the three family members were liming with friends under a shed on the western side of Mt Hope Extension, near their homes.

Opposite the shed is a two-storey building under construction, partially concealed by bushes. Investigators said a group of men armed with rifles emerged from the bushes and opened fire on the group.

Paul, Slater and their cousin were struck multiple times in the head and upper body. Several bullets also hit nearby homes, though no other injuries were reported.

The gunmen fled the scene heading north. Residents who heard the gunfire contacted police and emergency responders. Paul and Slater were pronounced dead at the scene, while their cousin was taken to hospital.

When the Express visited the area, bloodstains were still visible under the shed, and a pair of slippers belonging to one of the victims remained nearby.

Their mother, Sally Hosein, sat close to the scene surroun-ded by grieving relatives, including her daughters, aged 23 and nine. Hosein said she was still in shock over the killings.

“My boys didn’t deserve this…. Regardless if your son bad or good, a mother will always des-cribe them as good children,” she said.

She showed reporters two bullet holes on the wall of her nearby home, explaining that family members were inside at the time of the shooting.

“So they could have taken out the whole fa-mily by mistake because people were inside,” she said, noting the bullets pierced the eight-inch concrete walls.

Residents of Mt Hope Extension described the incident as devastating.

“JoJo (Jovel) was a schoolboy. He was just liming. This is where all the young men from the area come to hang out. And them men just roll up and open fire, wild,” one resident said.

Another resident said her home, about 100 feet (30 metres) from the scene, was also hit by bullets.

“It’s only through the grace of God (no one was injured). I was getting ready for work when I heard loud explo-sions like thunder,” she said.

She said she was not injured, but her walls had sustained damage.

Several residents expressed frustration with the police’s response, claiming officers did not pursue the gunmen after being told which direction they fled.

“We told them eve-ry-thing, but they just stayed here while CSI did their thing,” one resi-dent said.

Another man, who described the area as divided by a long-standing feud, said: “It’s one side of Mt Hope Extension warring with the next. That’s madness. But them police better get them because if they don’t, justice will find its way. They killed a 15-year-old who had a future. That cannot go unanswered.”

Police said several spent shells were recovered from the scene. Officers from the Northern Division and the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region II) are continuing enquiries.

The brothers were two of six people killed between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, about 7 p.m., Ikisha Wildman, 43, was fatally stabbed at her Bayshore, Marabella, home.

In a separate incident at 9.10 p.m., officers found the bodies of 61-year-old PH driver James Marine and Kevon “Fat Boy” Boucage inside a car in San Juan. Both men had been shot to death.

In the latest incident, 27-year-old Andrew Morales, of Petit Bourg, was visiting a woman along Marshall Trace, Cunupia, around 2.30 p.m. when another man known to the couple arrived.

There was a confrontation and the suspect pulled out a firearm and shot Morales several times. He died at the Chaguanas District Health Facility while undergoing treatment.

These killings have pushed the murder toll up to 282. The comparative for the same period in 2024 was 485.