A Pleasantville mother of three was shot and killed by gunmen targeting her common-law husband.
Around 6:20pm on Saturday evening, 45-year-old Denise Mendoza was in a Toyota Fielder wagon driven by her common-law husband Renako Pierre. Their 8-year-old son was also in the vehicle.
They were heading east along Lisas Boulevard, Couva, when a silver Nissan AD wagon pulled alongside them.
An occupant of the AD wagon then opened fire in Renako’s direction before the car sped off.
Mendoza and the child were taken to the Couva District Hospital by passersby and the police were notified.
Couva CID officers responded to the shooting and found Renako slumped in the driver’s seat of his car with gunshot injuries. He was also taken to the hospital.
Mendoza, a caterer who lived at Coconut Boulevard, Pleasantville, died while being treated at the Couva District Health Facility around 8 p.m.
The boy was hit in the back while Renako was shot about the body. Both underwent emergency surgery.
Around 8:20 p.m. officers of the Central Division Task Force, while on mobile patrol, discovered the car used in the killing abandoned at the side of the roadway at Pranz Gardens in Claxton Bay with spent ammunition casings inside the vehicle.
Crime Scene Investigators found and seized 5 spent 5.56 shell casings at the scene of the shooting. WPC Ransome of the Region 3 Homicide Bureau of Investigations is probing the incident.