Mark Bassant
Editor-in-Chief, Investigative Desk
The sound of automatic gunfire from warring gangs reverberated through the Laventille Hills two Mondays ago at midday, sending the children of Rose Hill RC Primary School, fear in their eyes, cowering in terror.
Video of the incident, seen thousands of times on social media, drew widespread condemnation and forced law enforcement to take decisive action through armed comfort patrols to protect the vulnerable, who were at risk whenever gunmen bravely struck. , taking their targets without a thought for the innocents in their path.
Gang warfare and anti-gang killings have not only gotten out of control, but innocent people have been shot and injured and even killed in some cases. The number of murders for 2022 is now 524 and counting as it moves towards the second highest number of murders of 539 recorded in 2019. The country is on track to reach its highest ever record number of murders – 550 in 2008.
Residents of Laventille and its environs are familiar with the gang rivalry that has pushed the Rose Hill community and others to the brink.
They said that fighting over turf or territory, weapons and drugs and other illegal items to ‘bad blood’ over who gets government contracts, simple jealousy or even a crush on a female can cause the ‘war’. Police sources have also confirmed this.
A 33-year-old man known to the Basilon Street gang and who lived in the area provided some information on the Rose Hill shooting.
“The Rose Hill shooting a few weeks ago has a long history between two rival gangs, the Sixx gang in St Paul Street and the Seven gang in Basilon Street,” he said.
“It started before COVID-19 when ‘Boss Sixx’ and ‘Seven Bosses’ had a fight over a girl.
After a heated exchange, he said, things turned violent and then spiraled out of control.
The man claimed that ‘Sixx’s boss’ sent several threats, sometimes using his social media handle via Instagram to do so.
“In 2021, his gang shot and killed a guy called ‘Channas’ in Mango Rose and they (Seven’s gang) weren’t taking it. ‘Boss Sixx’ thinks he could bully people and instill fear in them. People don’t want that. and they don’t want him here, and the Seven gang has to defend their lives.
“Sixx’s gang wants to shut down the block here and they won’t let it. We want to be able to come and go as we please, but we can’t do that these days. They shoot us every chance they get. The legs of their soldiers are killing innocent people”, he said.
He said the shooting death of Dirwin Gookool on October 21, at the corner of Alexander Place and Laventille Road, was one such case.
The escalating war between these two rival gangs has not only created unrest in the East Dry River area but also in the heart of Port-of-Spain when a message was sent to Sixx’s boss by his rivals who shot up a car at City Gate . injuring a man, while a female relative of Sixx’s boss escaped unharmed.
As fear and tension grip the community, not even taxi drivers working in the East of Port-of-Spain are immune to the collateral damage. “They tell the taxi drivers who work in this area, don’t pick anyone up and drop them in this area because they will kill them,” said another man, speaking on condition of anonymity.
None of the residents of the area where the rival gangs are located is safe from a bullet.
“If they can’t get to the ones they want, someone in the area is going to have to feel it and it’s better them than us,” said the man who is familiar with the Basilon Street gang.
He explained that gangs use diversionary tactics to distract their rivals sometimes so they can come from another direction and shoot someone.
“So all of a sudden you’ll start hearing gunshots up the hill loud, loud, and while everyone’s focused on that, gunmen run from another direction behind you and start shooting,” said the street man Basilon.
“Children can’t even go out and play in the street because the gunmen are always looking to shoot someone they’re fighting with.
“I will tell you that people need to be protected and guns are not cheap. It’s $7,000 to $25,000 (revolver and handgun) you can pay for a gun. Young people don’t have money, but I know old people others. highly connected getting firearms,” he said.
Another man from Trou Macaque, Laventille, also known for gang activity, admitted that young people with little to look forward to in the area and no access to work gravitate towards gangs and illegal activities.
“Guns and drugs in the area have created divisions and some of them end up in these small teams. There are times when certain contracts are awarded in specific areas and if someone doesn’t get a piece of the action, it’s very likely that someone will go .end up dead If you try to take something that isn’t yours, you might end up dead.
“This has been going on for a long time now…I remember knowing about Rasta and Muslim gangs and that’s all I knew, but now it’s total chaos on the ground,” said one man who has known life and served 13. years in prison for murder.
“The government has a lot of blame to take for this persistent gang problem,” he added.
“Now it’s a combination of things they’re killing for: taking over someone’s turf or someone’s jealousy and all kinds of things,” said the ex-convict.
Gary Grant, Project Construction Supervisor, an initiative of the Ministry of Homeland Security.
KERWIN PIERRE
“The community is traumatized”
Gary Grant, Project Construction Supervisor, a project of the Ministry of Homeland Security (formally the CURE Violence Programme), has been in the middle of these communities at risk (Morvant, Upper and Lower Laventille, Sea Lots, Picton, John John, Belmont , Gonzales and Tobago) trying to bring about change and help residents in these areas come to terms with the violence. He also tries to find ways to keep young people out of gang activity, and to talk and reason with gang members in hopes of reducing gun violence.
Here’s what he told the Sunday Guardian:
“Regarding the recent shooting near the school in Rose Hill, this is not something new, but something common. There are always some random shootings within the community because of the number of guns and gangs in the community. .
“The community is already traumatized and traumatized children in the community are exposed to so much shooting and violence. People in the community know how to react, they know how to cover and take measures to preserve their lives because of what’s there .in the community.
“It was unfortunate that it happened, but this time it was caught on camera and schools should be declared safe zones within the community. I don’t believe the shooting was anywhere near the school, but it must not have been the shooting period. Schools that exist within these types of communities should have special training for teachers and more interventions for children living within the community.
“The building blocks of the project have been visiting the schools that work with the children at the invitation of the schools, to talk to the children about gang and gun violence and to get them away from that kind of life and to provide counseling support to the children of affected by gun and gang violence. We have interacted with the perpetrators and interceded and intervened to stop the violence in the community.”
Historical perspective
“Historically, it started in the days after the coup, in the early 1990s, and continued until now. Historically, it was about who killed someone’s brother, leader or father, and it continues to evolve and added to that, based on where they come from, they get involved in gang activity and become gang members. Before serious gang activity started, there was always rivalry up and down the hill. That rivalry was either football, cricket or dancing. Now there is evolved where the only way to resolve the conflict between them is through violence”.
Why ‘war’?
“Sometimes the war is also about the turf in the community. A community can have a lot of people coming in to buy drugs and that means a lot of money coming in and whatever gang controls that community goes into their pockets. There are drug bar fights or historically one gang has been against another or one community has been in rivalry against another.
“It’s become easier to get guns in the country and there are people who bring their own guns. The young people who deal with guns in the community don’t have the resources to buy a gun. They’re in rubber slippers and tattered clothes and these guns cost $40,000 (AR15 or Ak47) in hands means someone brings the guns and puts them in hands.
“Some of these young people who belong to gangs came from broken homes and some were bullied and taken advantage of and some because of the family that comes from having to be involved. Also, there are some who can’t go to school because because of the area where the school is located.
“It could be a rival community or where they have to go, maybe the territory of a rival gang and they have no choice but to stay at home or end up in a gang for their protection.
“Talking to a lot of them, they have dreams and aspirations, but in order to do that, they may have to leave the community and that, in essence, could be a death sentence.”
settlement
“There are many programs that affected the community that were not sustained. Such as the Citizen Safety Program. In addition, there are many NGOs that do a lot of good work in the community, but do not have the resources to continue. .
“For this situation of crime and increased violence to be reversed, it will take a generation of sustainable programs to bring about the change that is needed.
“The type of programs should be hands-on in the community, build relationships with the community and allow perpetrators to gain their confidence while at the same time dealing with the risk factors that perpetuate this type of behavior. These programs should be sustainable for a long period of time, regardless of whether the government changes, to see results”.
