RESIDENTS of Cantaro Village, Santa Cruz said the killing of three men on Tuesday night is a blow to the community as the three were viewed as father figures to the area's youth and were not involved in criminal activities.
The killings of Brandon Charles, 36, Dale Alexander, 43, and Brian Perouse, 57, were among four incidents which left six men dead – one in Tobago and five in Trinidad – between 5.35 pm on Tuesday and 8 am on Wednesday.
The other victims are Tobago pensioner Edward Eastman, 68, Trinibad artiste Antonio “Wacko Dan” Reyes, 22, and father of one, Isaiah Prince, 23. Up to press time, the murder toll was 202 according to police, which is 17 more than the figure for the corresponding period last year.
Speaking with Newsday at Mc Carthy Street, Cantaro Village, Santa Cruz where Perouse lived, a group of young men said the three were all “fathers in the community.”
The men said Perouse took it on himself to host football tournaments in the community and would also pay out of his own pockets to transport players to tournaments outside of the community.
“He was no kinda criminal...nothing like that. Is an innocent man get a death he didn't deserve. Saddist, is good fellas, he (Perouse) used to link with all the youths in the back here,” one of the men in the group said.
He added: “Is only fathers they kill last night! Only elders! Good men taken.”
[caption id="attachment_1014207" align="aligncenter" width="290"] SHOT DEAD: Dale Alexander. -[/caption]
Another interjected saying: “Everybody! Everybody who get killed was only elders. Big man thing here, is only elders they killed...good people, boy.”
Another man in the group, clearly incensed by the triple murder, suggested retaliating in like manner, by going and killing other innocent people, but the other men all said this could never be right and was not the answer.
Two CCTV videos posted to social media and swiftly going viral, showed the men being killed by two masked men both armed with assault rifles. In one video, Perouse and two others were seen seated in a bar when the killers came in.
Perouse, who had a prosthetic left leg, tried to run but fell.
Two other men who were seated beside him ran out and escaped. The killers, after shooting Charles and Alexander, then shot Perous – who lay helplessly on his back – multiple times as they made their way out of the bar.
The other videos, taken from a camera positioned elsewhere in the bar, captured the murders of Charles and Alexander.
Charles was the first person attacked while Alexander, seeing what was taking place, ran under a pool table to avoid being shot.
Charles attempted to defend himself by jumping on one of the shooters but was pushed off and shot as he collapsed. One of the killers stooped and shot Alexander as he hid under the pool table. The other gunman then joined in and shot Alexander before ripping off a chain from his neck.
[caption id="attachment_1014206" align="alignnone" width="726"] SHOT DEAD: Brandon Charles. -[/caption]
A fourth man who was shot
