A FIGHT between rival gangs, in which shots were fired and bottles thrown, brought a party in a nightclub on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, to a premature end during the early hours of Sunday.
The mayhem, caught on video which was shared to social media, which quickly went viral, came mere hours before this country hosts a two-day Caricom symposium on crime as a public health issue.
In the video, people are seen pouring out of the club and seconds later, gunshots are heard and a voice says, “Shots fired.”
Officers of the Port of Spain Task Force received a report of a fight at the Coco Club on the corner of Ariapita Avenue and Carlos Street at around 2.30 am and when they went there, they found people running in different directions
Police found one man who had a wound to the left side of his face. He was taken to hospital.
Patrons at the club told police members of two rival city gangs had an argument on the pavement and began fighting and throwing glass bottles at each other.
Police said shots were also fired when the members of one gang got to their car, which was parked nearby. There were no reports of anyone being injured by gunshots.
Officers from the Western Division Task Force also visited and searched for gang members, but no arrests were made. Police said a known gang member from the Beetham was involved in the scuffle.
Port of Spain police said they were concerned about the incident and intend to increase their presence on Ariapita Avenue and other liming spots to prevent similar incidents.
One officer said information suggested the gangs were observing a truce and usually gathered on the avenue to lime, so he was unsure exactly what led to the fight.
“The gangs always lime on the avenue, it’s kind of like neutral territory, but for some reason tempers flared last night. They happened to see each other last night and things got out of hand.
"It’s possible they saw one person from the opposing side who was by himself. But usually there (the avenue) is common ground where anyone can go to lime,” a police source said.
Other sources said the gangs involved were from the Beetham and St Paul Street, east Port of Spain.
Police said they would be viewing CCTV security camera footage from nearby businesses as part of their enquiries.
“We are keeping an eye on this, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
“We will have to talk with the bar owners and ask them to consider having police work at the doors in these places.”
Speaking with Newsday, a worker at the Coco Club who asked not to be named said the incident was unfortunate but noted staff and security did their best to protect patrons during the incident.
The worker, who was at the club during the incident, said three security guards were working at the time and closed the doors to the building when it was filled to capacity, to better manage the crowd.
“There was security at different points but for some reason the situation t
