crime scene: A police officer guards the scene where Lyndon Samuel, in background, was murdered at City Gate, Port of Spain, on Thursday night. -Photo: CURTIS CHASE
AS Lyndon Samuel walked along one of the corridors in the nation's main transportation hub on Thursday night, a gunman walked up behind and shot him six times in the back. Samuel died on the spot.
And the entire incident was caught on tape, investigating officers revealed yesterday.
Video footage of Samuel's murder was captured on Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) located inside City Gate, Port of Spain, where the killing occurred.
The officers were able to get three separate angles of the murder from the surveillance cameras. They were able to see the shooter's face because he was not wearing a mask or any other type of head gear. He wore a cream jersey and jeans. Because of the video evidence, homicide detectives have assured a breakthrough in the investigation soon.
Samuel, 35, was a cleaner with the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) and lived at Angelina Terrace, Never Dirty, Morvant, with his two sons.
Homicide detectives believe his insistence on not selling a Nissan B12 motorcar to a group of young men from the area triggered his murder. Since buying the vehicle a few months ago, Samuel was approached by the group on many occasions. They wanted to buy the car from Samuel but he did not want to sell it. The men threatened to kill Samuel and take the car away from him.
Samuel reported the death threats to the police. He drove the car to work Thursday night.
Speaking at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday, Samuel's sister, Veronica, said her brother "never drank, never smoked and was not involved in any criminal activity". She said the entire family could not understand why anybody would want to take the life of an innocent man.
The corridor where Samuel was killed is one he walked several times a day. It is located between Rituals Coffee House and the RBTT automated teller machine and houses the transportation hub's public toilet facilities and the room where cleaners keep their equipment.
After the shooting, witnessed by the camera lenses and many eyewitnesses, the killer calmly walked out of City Gate's main entrance and onto South Quay, where he entered a waiting getaway car, which sped off.
Nearby Transit Police officers rushed to the scene and went looking for the shooter but returned empty handed. The many commuters awaiting transport around 10 p.m. scampered to safety during the incident.
When the Express visited City Gate yesterday many commuters were unaware of the brazen killing the night before. However, they all called for increased security in the wake of the fatal shooting.
The PTSC declined to give an official response to Samuel's killing, but said the incident was just a reflection of the current crime wave facing the country.
His killing and that of four others between Thursday night and yesterday, took the murder toll to 432.
Investigations are continuing.
