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ON August 15, in the usually quiet community of La Pastora, residents were awakened at around 6 am by screams for help followed by six gunshots.
Some pulled their curtains, while the more inquisitive ones went outside where they were greeted by the sight of an elderly man with head injuries standing near to his van with a gun in his hand.
A Nissan Cube, with its back glass shattered and its engine still running, had stopped at an awkward angle over a nearby drain with its back tyre in the air and a woman bleeding out in the driver’s seat.
Residents soon learned the screams had come from the elderly man who moments earlier had been the victim of a robbery gone wrong, unusually, for the bandits.
The 66-year-old had stopped at a nearby spring, known mostly to residents, and was washing his Mazda BT50 van when a Nissan Cube pulled up in front of him.
Two armed men got out and ran towards him as they announced a robbery.
The men repeatedly hit the pensioner in his head with a spanner as they demanded the keys for his van.
The pensioner fought back and began screaming for help.
During the struggle he was able to reach for his licensed firearm and fired several shots in their direction.
The two bandits ran through a nearby unfenced yard before dodging foot-high pieces of half-inch rebar steel from an unfinished wall and jumping into a nearby drain to escape.
The driver of the getaway car drove off, crossed a drain and crashed into an embankment metres away.
Police from the Santa Cruz Police Station responded to calls about the gunshots and arrived minutes later.
The victim told them what had happened and upon checking the Cube they found the driver, a woman, wearing a black face mask.
She appeared lifeless and had a bullet wound on her forehead.
Residents said the elderly man, who sat nearby, began crying when he realised the driver had been shot and had died.
The district medical officer viewed the woman’s body and pronounced her dead before ordering its removal to the Forensic Science Centre for a post mortem.
The victim was meanwhile taken to Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) to treat the head injuries he suffered during the fight with the bandits.
Less than two hours later, Police from Barataria CID arrived at the hospital when staff told them a man had been admitted with a gunshot wound.
After interviewing a female relative who had accompanied the man to the hospital, they determined he was a suspect in the Santa Cruz incident.
The relative told police sometime after 6 am, the suspect called her and said he needed help.
She went to Santa Cruz where she found the 23-year-old Sangre Grande man bleeding, barefooted, wet and muddy.
He asked her to take him to the EWMSC, where he died at around 7.30 am while undergoing treatment.
When Newsday arrived at the scene, the getaway vehicle was still parked over the drain with shattered glass a few metres away.
Two bookbags could be seen in the back and a blood-stained pack of cigarettes lay in the centre console.
Police have not named the dead bandits but the woman is believed to be a Santa Cruz resident.
Residents: Area safe but FULs still needed
Newsday spoke with several residents who said although robberies and shootings in the area were rare, the incident was proof that crime was not restricted to certain parts of the country.
Residents spoke with the media but did not want to give their names.
“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” said one man who added he hoped the government sped up the implementation of the proposed stand-your-ground legislation and the distribution of firearm user’s licences (FUL).
“The way crime is nowadays, is everywhere that affected. And we are clearly not immune to crime and bandits here.”
Another man voiced his support for the wider distribution of FULs, but warned the process must be thoroughly vetted before it was implemented.
“They have to have some amount of protocol in place where the people who they issue these licences to must have proper background checks… so they're not just issuing FULs to any and everybody.
“People who deserve it and who can use it with the proper training should be allowed to have it to defend themselves and even the community.”
Pointing to the incident, he said the pensioner might have saved his own life by having a gun.
“It could have been his life, and he's the innocent man here.
“He didn't leave his house to do nothing to nobody. So… Yes, where (an FUL) is warranted I agree with it.”
A businessman who lived nearby said he was not afraid as shootings were uncommon in the area.
“I never experience any shooting here whatsoever in the last 12 years. Maybe lower down in the village, but never up here.”
He described the easier access to firearms as a “positive” thing.
“It have law-abiding citizens who paying their taxes and doing the right thing and they need to protect themselves in situations like this. So I am all for people with good character and businessmen who providing jobs and paying their taxes to have the opportunity to protect themselves.”
A woman who spoke through her window said while she did not feel unsafe, she planned to be more observant.
“Santa Cruz is normally a safe zone and La Pastora Road is a safe area. We have to be on the alert now that things are happening.”
This story was originally published with the headline Male, female bandits killed by FUL holder and has been updated to include additional details. See original post below.
A bandit and his female getaway driver were killed by an elderly Santa Cruz man, who shot them on August 15 after they attempted to steal his van early in the morning.
Around 6 am, the man stopped at a spring in La Pastora and was washing his van when a Nissan Cube pulled up and two armed men got out.
The men began beating the 66-year-old victim and demanded his car keys.
The victim reached for his licensed firearm during the struggle and shot at the men.
Both men began running and the driver of the Cube drove off before crashing into a nearby drain.
Police responded and found the driver, a woman, slumped over the steering wheel wearing a black mask.
Less than two hours later, another suspect was found at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, but died while undergoing treatment.
Police said the bandit contacted a relative after the incident and asked her to take him to the hospital.
Investigations are continuing.
The post [UPDATED] FUL holder, 66, kills two bandits during attempted robbery appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.