TWO men were gunned down on Sunday night in Palmiste, Chaguanas, in what police say was a case of one man being the intended target while the other was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Steven Vidal Suraj, 32, also called Fatboy, and Tyrel "Redman" Bosse were with other people standing on the roadside at Thaddeus Trace at around 9 pm when a gunman shot at Bosse.
Bosse, who police believe was the target, died on the spot after be shot multiple times in the head.
Suraj, who worked as a labourer in the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where he was declared dead on arrival.
He lived in Sou Sou Lands, Carlsen Field, Chaguanas.
His girlfriend Sheneze Robinson recalled that shortly after they came home from a lime, Suraj spotted a crack on the windscreen of a car he had recently rented to a man. They decided to go to Thaddeus Trace to meet the man to find out from him what had caused the crack to the windscreen.
She said they met the man who was liming with other people one of whom was Bosse.
While Suraj was speaking to the man about the windscreen, another man walked up to Bosse who was standing on the other side of Suraj, and shot him. Robinson said she believes a stray bullet struck Suraj in his chest and he collapsed. The gunman then ran off.
Robinson said she later drove Suraj to hospital.
His relatives described Suraj as fun-loving, hard-working, and being the life of any party. They said he also sold pork on weekends along Caroni Savannah Road in Charlieville.
His parents, Jean Mahadeo and Suresh Suraj, were inconsolable on Monday when Newsday visited their home.
Mahadeo said she was often left stressed whenever she saw mothers weeping on the television news after a loved one was murdered.
"I see these mothers grieving but I never expected it would hit my house. I now know their grief and sorrow."
Between sobs, she said, "They take my baby, my big baby. I am still waiting for him to come home. Lord, you are a just God, I leave it in your hands. Father, give me justice, give me strength." Suraj was the last of four siblings.
As he sat and wiped away tears, Suresh Suraj said people do not only want to see guns taken off the streets, but they also want to be given a fighting chance against criminals.
"We also want to see the borders locked down. Government must give law-abiding citizens FULs (firearms user's licence) so we can protect ourselves," he said.
While residents had only glowing comments to make about Suraj, no one had anything good or nice to say about Bosse.
Residents said he moved into Thaddeus Trace about a year-and-a-half ago and to them, Bosse was a "pest" and "trouble-maker." They said he had multiple addresses in Diego Martin, Arima, and Coffee Street in San Fernando.
An elderly villager claimed Bosse was "very violent" and "destructive" and there would be no sorrow over his death. He said while he knew Suraj only by face, he knew him to be respectable.
"I saw him passing
