(Trinidad Guardian) A night of karaoke fun turned deadly when masked men sprayed bullets into a crowded bar in Marabella on Wednesday night, killing three patrons. Police suspect one of the men, Michael Scott, 48, a rigger, was the intended target. The others, Ruthven Sandy, 62, a grandfather of 11, of Marabella, and another man who remains unidentified, were innocent victims, police said.
Investigators believe Scott was shot in retaliation for a murder allegedly committed by one of his close relatives.
At around 11 pm, two masked men ran into Caribbean Vibes bar on the Southern Main Road and began firing wildly. Scott, a father of three, was shot several times, as was Sandy, who was walking from the washroom area, and the unidentified man, who was sitting on a chair. Sandy, who was shot five times, died while undergoing emergency treatment at the San Fernando General Hospital. The other two died at the scene.
Scott’s wife, Janice, said yesterday she had no idea why anyone would want to kill her husband.
“He was the best husband I ever saw,” she said, adding he never showed anger or raised his voice to anyone.
Saying she spoke to him just before he went to the bar, she said: “It was a normal conversation. He told me he was going to make a turn and come back. If I knew it would have been the last time I spoke to him I would have hugged him up and kissed him and told him that I loved him with all my heart.” Janice, who was married to Scott for nine years but knew him for 23 years, said she fell to ground and cried when she heard of his death.
“I felt it in my belly. I still feel as though I am dreaming,” she said.
Sandy’s son, Ako Cobham, said: “He wasn’t suppose to go that way. We not taking that just so. The man they come to kill dead. They kill my father for nothing, an innocent man. I out with a father and them men happy.” Cobham said he was outside the bar with his brother and a friend when he heard the gunshots and saw one of the attackers running away.
