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alexk
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Police patrols in Chaguaramas have been increased following a shooting at the Chaguaramas Boardwalk which claimed the lives of three men and left three people, including an eight-year-old boy, wounded.
In an interview with CNC3 yesterday afternoon, head of the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) Police, Simon Lendore, said the measure was introduced soon after the incident on Sunday night.
“What I want to do is give everyone the assurance that the CDA will do all in its power to ensure that the Boardwalk will remain as safe as it can be,” Lendore said.
Lendore noted that like municipal police officers, members of his unit have similar powers to traditional police within the T&T Police Service (TTPS).
“The CDA Police have all the power and authority of the TTPS and more than that, we work and partner with the TTPS and even the Defence Force in terms of maintaining patrols on the peninsula,” Lendore said.
Asked whether CDA officers were on patrol in the area when the incident occurred, Lendore said yes but declined to comment further as he repeatedly noted the incident was being investigated by the TTPS Homicide Bureau. He noted that he had already spoken with senior TTPS officers and they would be collaborating on additional security measures.
When a news team from the T&T Guardian visited the location yesterday, the area where the shooting occurred remained cordoned off and was guarded by two CDA officers.
Small groups of families who visited the beach facility kept their distance from the area and chose to utilise the side of the Boardwalk located closer to the CDA Police Post.
Several beachgoers who spoke to the T&T Guardian said while they were shocked by the incident, it did not affect their plans to visit yesterday.
“This a beautiful island and I come back to visit my parents and the home I was born in. This is not going to stop me. It (crime) is everywhere, it’s in New York and everywhere else. If you love the country, you going to come and enjoy yourself,” Robbie Mahabir, who lives in the United States, said.
“It is really a disturbing thing but we can’t let that keep us back from living our lives. We will come back again,” one of Mahabir’s relatives said.
One elderly woman said although her family changed their plans it did not deter her.
“My brother and his family were supposed to come with me today but when they hear about the shooting they get scared and stayed home. I told them that we not in anything so we have nothing to fear. I came down on the bus without them,” she said.