Criminologist Darius Figuera says the killing of five-year-old Anika Guerra during an attack aimed at her father is an indication of a frightening recklessness among criminals who no longer care about causing collateral damage.

The girl and her father Enrico were shot at their home at St Mary’s Village, Moruga, on August 20. Enrico died on the spot and Anika died at the Princes Town District Health Facility.

Figuera said the continued use of illegal and illicit assault rifles meant collateral damage would become more common.

“In the process of going to kill your target, if you’re using the assault rifle as a weapon of extermination, that means collateral damage. That means we don’t really care.

“It indicates a level of aggression on the ground that is even disturbing for the game, because there are certain rules that govern the game and the killing of the little girl yesterday, that is a rule that was broken. What we see now is a level of aggression that is breaking every rule, which is a frightening reality.”

Figuera explained that "the game" was the term used to describe the activities involved in the illicit trade in guns, drugs, etc.

“You are engaged in an illicit activity, which means you are subject to the law, and then you have power relations within the game that lead to violence within the game.

"It is a classic game, because not all that occurs in the game is in keeping the rule of the law, because on all sides you have corrupt elements. What they say is what it amounts to is a game, because everything is not what it is supposed to be and what it seems to be.”

He explained that such actions meant the criminals were daring the National Security Ministry to catch them.

“They are sending a message to the national security apparatus to take its best shot, they’re calling them out.

"It is a frightening development, because if they’re willing to undertake that type of recklessness, what is to stop them from opening up on a crowd of children, women, aged people, anyone, if their target disappears into that crowd?

"That is the frightening reality we have to look at now as citizens who are simply bystanders to this whole affair.”

Figuera said there were specific individuals who had adopted such attitudes and no longer cared about the rules.

“We continue to see surgical hits taking place, precision hits taking place, and alongside the tradition of the rules of the game, we’re getting these reckless acts.

"What eventually is going to happen, as always happens in the life of the game, they will go to parang the wrong house and then they will feel the weight. It is only a matter of time until they’re going to run into those in the game who insist on abiding by the rules, and there will be a battle within the game, because not everybody in the game believes you must go about the game in that manner, because, as they say, they have children too.”

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