Calls for tighter security after Avenue shooting

AN­NA LISA PAUL

Se­nior Re­porter

A pre-dawn shoot­ing out­side Ibiza Night Club & Rooftop Lounge yes­ter­day has reignit­ed de­bate about safe­ty on Ari­api­ta Av­enue, with so­cial me­dia users urg­ing au­thor­i­ties to ban ve­hi­cles and in­tro­duce body scan­ners.

The shoot­ing oc­curred around 5:20 am. Po­lice said a 26-year-old man from Harpe Place, Port-of-Spain, was lim­ing with friends on the pave­ment when a white Aqua pulled up. Sev­er­al men re­port­ed­ly ex­it­ed the ve­hi­cle, ap­proached the vic­tim, and be­gan as­sault­ing him be­fore one of them opened fire.

As the vic­tim tried to flee, of­fi­cers on pa­trol from the Wood­brook Po­lice Sta­tion in­ter­cept­ed and took him to Port-of-Spain Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal. He was treat­ed for a gun­shot wound to the ab­domen and cuts to the back of his head, fore­head and left calf. He un­der­went emer­gency surgery and re­mained in crit­i­cal but sta­ble con­di­tion up to press time.

On so­cial me­dia, sev­er­al users called for tighter con­trol of the area.

Po­lice said in­ves­ti­ga­tions in­to the in­ci­dent are con­tin­u­ing.