At least 4 murders close off the year

SHOT DEAD: Tobagonian Jerome Woods, who was shot dead on Old Year's Day, is seen in this photo posted to Facebook. - FB

As 2025 drew to a close, four murders – including one in Tobago – were recorded between the night of December 30 and Old Year's Day, December 31.

One of the victims was a man with the same name as former police commissioner Gary Griffith.

Griffith, 40, of Derek Murray Drive in Tarouba Heights, was killed in a shooting shortly before 11 pm on December 30. Southern Division police were alerted after gunshots were heard in the area.

Marabella police, including PCs Teesdale and Boodoo, and others from the division including Sgt Suliman, responded within minutes and found Griffith lying along the road near his home bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds.

The injured man was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11.29 pm.

Investigators later learnt that Griffith was walking along the road when a white car pulled alongside him. The occupants opened fire, hitting him several times before speeding off. Police from the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region III) responded and gathered evidence.

In another incident, Shawn McLean, 47, of Upper Wharton Street in Laventille, was shot dead in his car which was parked in the yard of his home shortly before 9 pm on December 30.

McLean was found slumped behind the steering wheel having just returned home from an errand. Police said he also had another address in Morvant.

At Persad Lane in El Socorro, Gobin Deonarine, 76, was shot dead while playing cards with a group of people near his home before dawn on December 31. Police said around 1.20 am, a man riding a bike approached the group and opened fire, hitting the elderly man.

Deonarine was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, where he was later declared dead.

The Tobago victim was identified as Jerome Woods, 26, of King Street, Delaford in Tobago. His murder marked the tenth in the island for 2025.

Woods was a sanitation worker with the Division of Health of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

His body, which bore gunshot wounds, was found on the morning of December 31 at his rented apartment at Blackman Trace, Delaford.

PNM candidate for Roxborough/Argyle for the THA elections, Shonae John, offered condolences to his family and friends via Facebook.

“It’s never easy losing someone so young, especially someone many of us grew up with. Moments like this remind us how fragile life is and how deeply loss touches a community,” she said in a post.

“Delaford is a beautiful village, rich in love, strength, and togetherness. Let us hold on to that. I gently appeal to us all to choose peace, to turn away from violence, and to protect one another.”

She also called on the community to surround Woods’ family and friends with support, prayers and compassion.

There were also unconfirmed reports of the nude body of a man being fished out of a river at Morvant Junction near the T&TEC substation on Wednesday. Up to time of publication, no information on this incident was forthcoming.

The murder toll for 2025, as of 3 pm on Wednesday, was 368, as compared to 626 for 2024.