A 57-year-old mother of six and grandmother of eight was chased by two masked gunmen and shot 10 times yesterday, moments after she left her St Paul Street, Port-of-Spain apartment complex on an errand. The attack was not the first against Marlene Grant, but they all came, neighbours say, because she had the audacity to stand up to gangsters in her community.
Grant is the elder sister of entertainer Curtis “General Grant” Grant and great aunt of Tecia Henry, who was killed in 2009. According to police reports, Grant had just stepped out of her St Paul Street apartment around 8.45 am when two masked gunmen approached her and opened fire.
Grant ran a short distance away but fell after being shot in the leg. The gunmen then stood over her and shot her several times, including twice in the head. Her killers then escaped. She was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. The woman lived less than a stone’s throw away from the Besson Street Police Station, which was reportedly shot at last week following a triple murder in Laventille.
Speaking with the media at the scene yesterday, relatives said Grant, a Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (Cepep) worker, was vocal against the criminality in the community, which has been ravaged by gang warfare. They said about three months ago thugs firebombed her home in an attempt to get her out, but she refused to be driven away from her home and the community.