Trinidad in shock after senseless killing of 5-year-old girl and father

Trinidad and Tobago: A five-year-old girl, Anika Guerra, who celebrated her birthday on August 13, died seven days later. Anika and her father were shot and killed in Moruga on Tuesday, August 20.

According to the information, the child was shot five times, including in the head, while the suspects chased her father, 34-year-old Enrico Andy Lorenzo Guerra, into his mini-mart at No.1 Poui Road Junction, St Mary’s Village, Moruga, firing shots at him.

It was also reported that seventeen bullets from a 5.56 gun were fired at Guerra's business place, Enrico's Corner Mart.

When officers arrived at the scene, they talked to the child’s mother, who said that just 10 minutes before, she was inside the business when her husband ran in, being chased by a masked gunman.

The woman said that she threw herself to the ground to take cover, and shortly after, she realized that both her husband and daughter were on the floor.

Anika was still alive and taken to the Princes Town District Hospital. However, she was pronounced dead at 10:20 p.m. Doctors reported that they found bullet wounds on Anika Guerra’s head, arm, and back.

With these homicides, the murder rate in Trinidad has climbed to 400 for this year, becoming a major concern for the government.

The preliminary investigations also revealed that the 34-year-old victim and another victim who survived the attack were standing outside the mini-mart while the child was with her mother inside the establishment when three masked gunmen came walking along the road and started firing before chasing Guerra inside the mart.

These killings have sent shockwaves across Trinidad and Tobago, with people calling it brutal and urging the government to take strict action and increase security across the island.

"Human and humane response?! A baby was murdered without a second thought! We need swift justice, TTPS do what you have to do, deal with them," wrote a user named Natalie through Face, book while another user said, "Those violent crimes just don’t happen like that.. it was a build-up of so many years of breeding the criminals, a social media post isn’t what’s needed action is."

In addition to this, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said that he is ‘shocked and angered’ at the killing of the five-year-old. 

He said that this and acts like these represent the worst of what the country is and what they have produced. The Prime Minister further vowed to find the perpetrators and bring justice to the victims.