BY GEISHA KOWLESSAR

More police have been deployed to Laventille and Morvant, as three more murders rocked the districts on Friday night and yesterday, pushing the toll to 96.

Homicide detectives said they believed reprisal was the motive for the killing of Marvin Samuel, as he limed a short distance away from his home on Foster Road in John John, Laventille.

Samuel, 26, was killed around 6 pm.

The murder of Kurt Williams, 34, about five hours later, was the result of gang warfare, police said.

Samuel’s murder has been linked to the slaying of Ebony Henry, of Block 8, also in Laventille.

Henry was ambushed and killed while sitting outside a parlour near her home on Thursday night.

Police said that shortly around 8.30, three men walked up to Henry. One of them pulled out a firearm and shot her three times in the chest, neck and under her right arm.

She died on the spot.

Senior police say Henry’s killing was because of an “old grudge” involving a member of her family.

In an interview with the Sunday Guardian yesterday, however, a resident from the area who knew Henry and wished to remain anonymous, said: “She (Henry) was to dead long time. She used to talk out against all the crime and killing in Laventille. People become vex and say she talking too much.

“After she got kill, the gunman went about his business as normal. He call people on his cell, telling them what he do, calm, calm.”

Samuel, police believe, was killed because he may have played a part in Henry’s murder.

“Whoever killed him walked up very close to him, because part of his head was blown away from behind,” said one investigating officer yesterday.

Police said preliminary investigations revealed that Samuel was shot once at the back of the head, while at Building Three on Foster Road, John John.

Mere hours later, gunshots again rang out, this time at Pump Trace in Straker Village.

Williams, who was also liming, mere metres away from his home, was approached by a group of men at around 11.15 pm.

Police said Williams was shot nine times in the chest, stomach, arm and neck.

He was taken to Port-of-Spain General Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Then shortly after 1 pm yesterday, members of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad stumbled upon the body of Sherwin McDonald.

McDonald, 19, was reportedly abducted from his Morvant home on Friday.

But as lawmen went in search of the missing man, his body was instead found at the side of the road in Morvant, a few streets away from where he lived.

Police said investigations led them to believe that gang violence was responsible for McDonald’s murder, and that his death may be linked to Williams’ killing.

Investigators said they were stumped in their investigations after residents refused to give any information about the killings.

Police said they had an idea who the perpetrators were and hoped to make an arrest soon.

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