PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Five people were killed and several others injured as Police yesterday appealed to persons involved in a dispute that lead to a five storey building being set ablaze in the volatile Laventille area, east of here, to give themselves up.
Among the casualties of the early morning fire that gutted the top floor of the building belonging to the state-owned Housing Development Corporation (HDC), were three children, including ten month-old Destiny Young, whose charred remains were found in one of the apartments.
Police spokesman, Sergeant Wayne Mystar told reporters that those killed included Lisa Charles, the 46-year-old common law wife of one of the brothers allegedly involved in the fracas; 15-year-old Akim Young; two-year-old Anesha Young and another, identified so far, as nine-year-old Josiah.
He said Charles and the 15-year-old died after jumping from the building and that “several persons also jumped from the top floor in a bid to escape”. Mystar said four of those persons are in a serious condition at hospital.
But the police said that a 32-year-old suspect had been detained and Mystar said the law enforcement authorities were “appealing to anyone who may have information concerning the incident to contact the police.
“We are also appealing to the persons who were involved in this incident to give themselves up to the police,” he added.
The incident occurred less than a week after three people were shot and killed, several others injured and two houses firebombed in what police say may have been as a result of a feud among warring gangs in the Laventille area. (CMC)
