ARMED criminals went on a terror spree in Tabaquite over the weekend, robbing several residents and killing a young man who was preparing to be baptised next week.
Hours before 21-year-old Matthew Chancellor was killed, residents said the men committed a series of robberies in the area.
When the Express visited the family yesterday at their home in New Bolt, Tabaquite, Maxwelo Chancellor, 47, said he believed his son was the victim of a case of mistaken identity.
NARROW ESCAPE: Maxwelo Chancellor, father of murder victim Matthew Chancellor, 21, consoles his son Justin yesterday at his New Bolt, Tabaquite, home. Justin, 19, was also shot at, but escaped. —Photo: DEXTER PHILIP
“Matthew, my other son Justin, and their two cousins were down the road liming and somebody was waiting for somebody, like mistaken identity, and them fellas them just pull and shoot up the fellas them for nothing. Them fellas don’t deal with crime,” he said.
Matthew worked on Saturday and was going to his grandfather’s house in Cito Lane, Guaracara Tabaquite Road, to pick up his bag when he was killed.
Speaking to the Express, Matthew’s younger brother Justin Chancellor, 19, recalled the incident.
“Matthew, me, and two of our cousins were liming at the Bandstand by the (Tabaquite Recreation) Ground when a fight break out around 12.30 a.m. The fight was not with we, but bottles start to pelt and we say we will leave before it get worse,” he said.
Before the four young men arrived at Cito Lane, they observed a car parked near the street.
“We thinking that is one of them fellas who we know, so we didn’t hesitate and we ended up walking, but then we see a man come out (of the car) with a gun, and we turn around to run,” he continued.
He said they scattered in different directions, while the gunman fired several shots.
“I just remember telling my brother to run because it is a life or death situation. I say Matthew just run let we get out of this, and I just hear the gun gone off. I see my brother just fall down and I say like he trip. Then, he ran into (nearby bushes),” he recalled.
He said the gunman ran off into Cito Lane while the car sped off.
About ten minutes after the shooting, he began looking for his brother and cousins, but there was no response from anyone.
He went to a relative’s house, where he received a call that Matthew had been found in the bushes behind a house.
“When I see Matthew, he was on the ground bleeding. He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t responding. You know how hard it was to see my big brother, who I grew up with, and to see what I was seeing and experiencing that night? It was tough. I don’t know how long I can go with this. It really taking a toll on me,” he said.
His father Maxwelo recalled that Matthew was always a happy, friendly and loving person.
He added this was the first time his family had been affected by crime.
“First time I witness something like this. I don’t even know how to deal with this right now. Right now I getting help from everybody, because I am not feeling functional,” he said.
The father of six children, between the ages of nine and 21, said crime across the nation was worsening.
“The place real bad. I think we need to fix the youths and them in Tabaquite, at least look for occupation and get rid of what is not good. The bad seed always spoil the good one. We have to get rid of the bad seed to preserve the good one,” he said.
A community rocked
During a prayer walk held yesterday from the Nariva Junction to the Tabaquite Recreation Ground, Rev Dilip Samaroo of the Tabaquite Open Bible Church said the community was mourning Matthew’s death.
“We had this incident and sorrowful experience of the loss of Matthew Chancellor who was murdered in the wee hours of the morning. What is heart-rending is this young man was supposed to start Baptism class very shortly, and was going to be baptised in water,” he said. “This has rocked the community of Tabaquite, and the church has decided, spontaneously, that we are going to send witness to the community that we are not accepting a community being invaded by thugs and the overrun of crime. We believe in God and through our intervention and witness, awareness would be created so that people will be impacted and young people will know that there is a life beyond crime.”
A resident also told the Express that the criminals had terrorised several people in the area and robbed them of over the weekend.
The resident, who asked to go unnamed, said one person was a victim of a home invasion at around 11 p.m. on Saturday.
“They jump over the gate, they get inside, and they tell she ‘we come for the gold, we come for the gold and the money’. She say she don’t have no money. They say, ‘well bring the gold’. They take about $70,000 in gold. They duct tape her mouth, her hands, and her feet,” the resident said.
Yesterday morning, other residents were robbed of cash and another resident was robbed of her Nissan Tiida vehicle.
“They took her car and like they drive it till it shut down, because later they recovered it in Todd’s Road,” the resident added.
When contacted yesterday for comment, Gran Couva police confirmed the incidents were being investigated.
The murder toll for the year so far stood at 44 up to last night compared to 60 for the same period last year when there was no state of emergency.
