A gunman opened fire at a bar in St John’s Village, Princes Town, yesterday, killing two men and injuring five others.
Rishi Chatoor, 32, the owner of Chatoor’s burger business and Ishmael Mohammed, 60, an operator employed at Petrotrin died on the spot after being shot multiple times.
Five other patrons including Roger Sookoo, 37; Aron Dripaulsingh, 30; Adrian Debiesingh; Ritchie Ramlogan; and Collin Trotman were wounded. Sookoo, Debiesingh and Ramlogan, who suffered gunshots to their legs and arms, were discharged from hospital late yesterday. The two other men were said to be in serious but stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital late yesterday.
Police said the shooting occurred around 2 am at D Alco Hole Restaurant and Bar at St John’s Village, Cipero Road. Chatoor had just arrived at the bar and was coming out of his Teana car when a white AD wagon pulled up.
A man carrying an automatic weapon unleashed a volley of fire which ricocheted off the front walls of the bar, sending patrons scampering.
The bar manager, who was in the toilet at the time of the incident, said he heard the gunfire followed by screams. “People started to run in the bar and in the toilet and all I saw was smoke,” an eyewitness said. When it cleared, he saw Chatoor lying face down on the ground with multiple gunshots to his body.
“Apparently he tried to run back into his car when the shots rang out,” the eyewitness added. Mohammed who was standing close to the bar was also killed on the spot.
Speaking at her Bronte Village, home yesterday, Chatoor’s mother Shirley said Chatoor was the fourth member of the family to be murdered within a decade.
In 2006 her husband Harry Chatoor was also murdered during a robbery at her home; her eldest child Balchan was poisoned; and her second son Khemraj was chopped to death in 2008. None of the murders were related, but Shirley said her family has always been a target because of their family food business. She said Chatoor was a loving son.
Meanwhile, Chatoor’s common-law wife Alana Lagan said since January a police officer at the Princes Town police station had been harassing Chatoor and demanding bribes. “We went to the Professional Standards Bureau and we made a report but nothing was done. They gave my husband a false charge for possession of a gun, even though they never found a gun on him,” Lagan said.
She explained that Chatoor also had a dispute with the ex-husband of one of his friends. She said because of frequent robberies Chatoor went every night to all the burger carts to pick up cash.
Lagan said her two sons Justin, seven, and Jarod, five, were asking for their father. “I don’t know how to tell them their father isn’t coming back,” Lagan wept.
Meanwhile, at Mohammed’s home, his brother Mantab said the shooting was shocking. He said Mohammed was fixing up his home for the return of his daughter Farhana who won an island scholarship to study in Canada.