Trinidad: 38-year-old man fatally shot outside Kelly Village bar after late-night altercation 

Trinidad and Tobago: 38-year-old Gabriel Simon was shot dead during the early hours of Saturday outside a popular bar in Kelly Village, Caroni. According to police reports, Simon, of LP 54 Main Road, Kelly Village, Caroni was discovered dead by the authorities around 3:00 a.m. after officers who were on mobile patrol in the Caroni Police District.

Officers said that they received a wireless transmission around 2:45 from the E999 Police Command Centre who reported loud explosions at Safe Landing Bar, Caroni South Bank Road. The authorities then proceeded to the scene, to find a number of persons gathered on the roadway around Simon, who was lying motionless in the car park in front of the bar.

Reportedly, the 38-year-old had been involved in the altercation earlier that night after an argument involving his brother and a woman inside the bar erupted and Simon attempted to intervene.

Following the end of the dispute, the three parties all went their separate ways, with Simon heading outside the bar to smoke a cigarette. Approximately 15 minutes later, several loud explosions were heard outside the bar and Simon was then discovered lying in the parking lot,  on his back with gunshot wounds to his face.

Following his body’s discovery and the processing of the scene, the District Medical Officer also visited the scene, viewed the body, and pronounced Simon dead. Before ordering the removal of the body for safekeeping and for a pending post-mortem examination at the Forensic Science Centre.

Investigations are continuing under WPC Rampersad of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, although eyewitnesses report that Simon was last seen alive around 2:25 a.m. moments before he went outside and was shot. No motive for the killing has yet been identified.