Gunned down in separate incidents were identified as Sterling Junior Richards,Osei Christian, and Keagan John

Gunned down in separate incidents were identified as Sterling Junior Richards, 20, of Lovell Place; Osei Christian, 27, of Rebecca Trace, Building 22 and Keagan John, 24, of Canada. Three murders committed within a two-hour period on Tuesday night in Laventille, have brought the overall murder toll to 342 for the year, 47 less than the total murders committed for 2007. For this week there have been seven murders.The first incident occurred at about 7.30 pm, when according to a police report, Richards was at L’eau Place liming when he was shot dead by a man.
In this incident, two other persons were also shot and wounded. The two, one of whom was identified only as ‘Trevor’ were taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where they were treated and warded in satisfactory condition. In the second incident, at about 8.45 pm, Christian was standing outside his home in the presence of relatives when he was shot by a man. Christian was taken to the city hospital where he was pronounced dead-on-arrival. John, in the third incident, was walking along a road in Canada at about 9.15 pm, police said, when three masked men ran out from behind an area commonly known as ‘the Plannings’ and opened gunfire, killing him instantly. An investigating officer told Newsday they believe John’s murder was a reprisal for Monday’s killing of Andy James, 30, who also lived in the Canada area. No arrests have been made in the Tuesday murders. Richards’ father Sterlin Brown, 46, said he was told that his son’s murder may have stemmed from an argument he had with another man on Saturday. “I am not sure why my son was killed because I am hearing a lot of things. “Look, I was just told that he had an argument on Saturday with somebody,” Brown said. “Sterling was a cool going fella but I think that he just got mixed up with the wrong set of people,” he added. When asked what was his concern about the seemingly ‘out of control’ crime rate in the country, Brown replied, “The Government may be trying but I don’t think that they trying their best. Crime is something that they cannot stop entirely but I don’t think that they doing their best.” On Monday, between 3.30 pm and 9 pm murders were committed in Lopinot, the Beetham Highway, D’Abadie and Laven-tille. The victims in Monday’s killing spree were identified as Derrick Paipal, 22; Jhyrone Garrick, 25; security guard Davis Noel, 30, and Andy James, 30, of Canada, Laventille.